Fairy Tail Oberon Reboot
by Chuckling-Ghost
Summary: REBOOTED. This was my second failed attempt to write a Fairy Tail fic. Third time's the charm though, and "Mad Little Slice of Heaven" is rolling on quite smoothly. Anyone who wants to read my previous attempt though, here ya go!
1. Prologue 1

Prologue The Many Morally Questionable Deeds of Precht Gaebolg

Chapter 1

==November Year X765==

The sky was dark with snow as Precht observed the wreckage of the small town before him. Precht stroked his long white beard, "Zeref's handiwork certainly packs a wallop." He gazed after the retreating form of the flying island known as the Cube.

In less than an hour, the demons of Tartaros had annihilated the town before him. Precht had felt the massive eruption of power from a hundred kilometers away and quickly arrived to investigate. By the time he had arrived, it was too late and the town was already in ruins. _Not that even I could likely have done much against so many of Zeref's demons,_ Precht mused. Then an idea occurred to him and he shot a small sly grin at the wreckage, "But that doesn't mean I can't make a demon of my own to fight them _next time_ …"

He pulled a tattered tome from the extradimensional pocket where he kept his things and willed it to hover in the air before him, "Let's see now…" He turned through the tattered tome and review the magic spells within, nodding and muttering to himself as he conjured a chair to sit in while he brushed up on the black magic he was preparing to use.

After nearly two hours, he was ready. Precht rose and raised his hands before beginning to chant in an ancient tongue which sounded much like vaguely musical and ominous gibberish to any who did not know it. As he called upon the darkness within himself, the magic he was using began to draw upon the lost souls of those in the wreckage before him. He tried not to let it rattle him as he heard the howls of despair and cries of torment echo through the past. The crack of whips and the squelch of blood echoed in his ears as every misfortune that had befallen the bodies before him made themselves known. The roar of flames and crashing of buildings were like thunder in his ears as the darkness washed forth from his hands and swept over the small town like a tidal wave.

Precht resisted the urge to look around and see what his magic was doing. A single mispronounced syllable could kill him, he dared not look away from the tome before him even as the howls and screams intensified. The incantation took almost a solid five minutes, then it was finished and Precht was able to look at what he had wrought.

A massive glowing black and purple mass had formed over the wreckage. It was a writhing thing lined with red and echoing with the screams of the doomed. Then, just as Precht turned his gaze upon it, the massive blob of magical power shuddered. As Precht's breath left him in awe, the blob formed from the wrathful and despairing ghosts within the town seemed to lean towards him. Precht's breath seized in terror as he wondered if he had misspoken the incantation. Then the blob screamed in a chorus of voices, **_"_** ** _WHAT DO YOU WAAAAAAAANT?!"_**

Precht stared in shock for a moment and then he recovered, "Choose the herald of your vengeance to impart your power upon! I will train them to be the greatest wizard in history! Mighty enough that even the demons who left you in this sorry state will be unable to stand against him! Choose a mighty vessel, capable of holding all your anguish and rage at those who have wronged you! Choose well that they might one day take vengeance in your stead!"

The blob of torment was still and then it began to howl. Precht took a step back in fear as the wordless howl rose to a fever pitch and then the blob began to whirl like it was made of some strange liquid wind. It crackled with lightning and shook with thunder, raging cold and searing flame burst out in waves from it along with torrents of emotion and the world itself seemed to ripple around it from the force of its power.

The whirling mass of darkness grew and grew until it was a massive twister of power. In a matter of seconds, it was a sky-high hurricane of purple magic glowing with wicked light, looking not all that dissimilar to a malefic version of Fairy Law up at the top. Precht watched in awe as the cyclone of magic raged, stirring the storm clouds overhead until they were raging out of control with rain, thunder and lightning. The flames and the wreckage were sucked in as the wind howled in to the twister with such force Precht had to use his Chain Magic to hold himself down, "What is this?!"

Then before his eyes, the twister began to shrink as the glow from the heavens narrowed. In mere moments, the twister was gone and there was a tiny purple spotlight shining down on what had been a ruined building until it was absorbed by the twister.

Precht released his Chain Magic and quickly walked over to the spotlight. He found lying in the middle of the purple spotlight a small being. The being was snow white all over, except for a pair of glowing green eyes. It had two small nubby horns poking out from above its eyebrows and a wicked looking set of talons for hands. There was a forest of thin tendrils of snowy white flesh issuing from along the backs of its shoulders and what looked like a tail with a barbed spade at the end. It was undoubtedly a demon Precht knew, but aside from the much too wide mouth, its face and size were so much like that of a child he had to marvel at it.

Then as he watched, the demons flesh began to turn to a more normal human color. The tendrils and horns and tail all began to retract, like fishing line being reeled back in. Its eyes slid shut as the small demon's claws went from black to pink and shrank until they were just normal fingertips. In mere seconds, the small demon was a little boy in tattered clothes with stark white hair despite looking to be barely more than a toddler.

Then the boy's eyes flickered open, bright, alert and completely devoid of the pupiless green glow that had pervaded them a moment before. He sat up, "Where am I? What happened? Is it gone? Is everyone okay?!"

Precht blinked at the onslaught of questions and then answered them, "You are right where you dropped. The demon band known as Tartaros attacked and leveled your hometown, horrifically killing all who lived here. Yes they are gone now. If there were any other survivors, which I doubt given their reputation, then they have fled. You have only survived because my magic revived you just now."

The boy blinked as he took that in and then a moment later he drew his knees up to his chest and rain started pouring, "If that's true and my family's dead then I wish you hadn't. I don't want to be all alone."

Precht blinked at the sudden downpour. He looked up at the sky and then back at the boy and considered what the spell had done, _Could he be causing this?_ Then he put on his best Fairy Tail smile, "Why you're not alone at all boy! I'm here aren't I?"

The boy looked up with watery eyes and the rain abruptly stopped, "You mean it?" Precht smiled awkwardly in the sudden lack of rain, "Well of course! I said so didn't I?" _Definitely the boy controlling the weather, and his vocabulary is impressive for one so young. He's probably very smart,_ "After all, you seem to have the makings of a terribly powerful wizard! Wouldn't you like to learn magic so that maybe one day you can pay those nasty old demons back for what they did to your hometown? Come on, we'll get you somewhere warm and dry to recover!"

The boy looked troubled, "Mommy said I shouldn't talk to strangers." Precht stood up and stroked his beard, "Oh? Is that so? Well then, we must simply introduce ourselves! Then we won't be strangers!" The boy brightened considerably, "Really? Ok, I'm Oby!" Precht smiled warmly back at him, "And I'm Precht Gaebolg. Come on, let's go see about that warm meal I offered you!"

"How about a heaping helping of death before you go?" A voice called with a smirk. Precht whirled and his blood ran cold as he saw a pack of demons standing on the hillside above them, the Cube hovering not far behind them.

Before Precht could come up with a witty response or activate a magic that would allow him to flee with the boy, he heard a strange choking sound. He looked down and saw the boy, Oby, staring at the demons, bug eyed with rage. Precht stepped out of his way, _This is probably not going to end well…_

" ** _YOU._** " Oby snarled in a chorus of voices that Precht recognized as the souls of his town, " ** _YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!_** "

"Probably," the lead demon declared nonchalantly, "Did they live here? I'm sorry, I can't tell one fly from another." **POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Said lead demon was immediately blasted with a bolt of black lightning that fell from the sky like the wrath of some raging god. Precht's gaze snapped to the boy and he saw that the child was quickly reverting to his demon form, black markings rapidly spreading across his body as violent purple light began to play around his rapidly changing form.

" ** _YOU. WILL. PAY."_** The boy snarled, " ** _STORM DEEEMOOON'S RAAAAAAAAAAAGE!"_** Precht only narrowly managed to spring clear of the beam of wild destructive power. Precht's eyes were wide in surprise as the massive violet storm erupted towards the demons. _So this is the power of Lord Zeref's demons!_ Precht thought in shock.

Then he became aware of another massive whirlwind holding back the boy's attack. Eventually the boy's attack petered out, the cyclone countering it didn't. The cyclone rushed forward and Precht thought for sure he was about to be sent flying. Then the cyclone focused itself and became a seething black mist that the boy inhaled in an instant. _"_ _ **THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!**_ _"_ The boy asked with a vicious grin.

"Hardly," the massive leonine demon that had produced the cyclone replied, "Inferno." He flicked his finger and a bolt of flames erupted forth, quickly spreading into a wave before being dissolved and swallowed as well.

" ** _THAT TASTES LIKE BURNING CRAP,_** _"_ the boy-demon told the leonine demon with a smirk. The leonine demon looked slightly taken aback and then he turned to the leader, the one that had been blasted by the boy's lightning, "Kyoka. Your turn."

The now named Kyoka wiped a bit of blood from her lip and looked upon Precht and the boy-demon with pure undiluted hatred. Before she could invoke her curse, the boy-demon disappeared, _"_ _ **I REMEMBER YOU.**_ " He hissed as he delivered a massive kick laden with lightning to the back of Kyoka's neck. Kyoka had enough time to gasp in shock and then the boy-demon twisted mid air and wrapped a volley of his tentacles around her throat before blasting her with a fresh bolt of lightning. Precht stared as the demoness was sent to her knees, struggling with the tentacles around her throat as she screamed in the center of the blinding nimbus of purple lightning. " ** _PAYBACK'S A BITCH AND SO ARE YOU!"_** The boy-demon declared with sadistic delight.

Precht made a note to temper the boy's language if they survived. Then he flinched as the boy-demon's claws erupted through Kyoka's chest, first once and then repeatedly, tearing away large chunks of flesh until there was nothing left of the demoness but a tattered and charbroiled lower half, a cooked head with a surprised expression and some disembodied limbs.

The other demons stared as the boy-demon stood there panting in wake of his shockingly brutal kill. Then he turned to face them with a savage grin, " ** _WHO'S NEXT?"_**

The boy was then flattened as a dark figure landed on his head from above, "That would be me." Precht felt terror grow in his gut as he sensed the immense power of the demon before him as it drew itself up to its full height and turned to face him.

The demon was tall and took the form of a young man with long dark hair and a longer dark cloak. "I am Mard Geer, King of the Underworld," the demon declared, "Your imitation of Lord Zeref's magic intrigues me human. How have you created an Etherious strong enough to challenge my comrades?"

Before Precht could answer, Mard Geer looked down in surprise as the boy-demon's tentacles wrapped around his legs, " ** _I'M STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT YOU TOO._** " **ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAP!**

When the light faded and Precht finished blinking the stars from his eyes he found Mard Geer looking down at the boy-demon with an unamused expression, "With a few decades of training, maybe," Mard Geer declared before yanking his foot free from the boy-demon's tentacles and stomping his head into the ground, "Until then, _remember your place._ "

The boy's reply was muffled and then a massive explosion erupted out from him. Precht stared in shock as once again Mard Geer was unharmed and looked only severely annoyed despite his subordinates having been sent flying.

The boy grumbled something else muffled and then flung Mard Geer off him before rising back to his feet. He summoned two whirling vortexes of energy around his hands and began to storm forward as his tentacles crackled with lightning behind him and his eyes glowed with vicious purple light. Mard Geer landed effortlessly on his feet and raised an eyebrow at the young demon storming towards him before casting a glance at Precht, "Human, what book did you use to summon this one?"

Precht looked at the book he had gotten the incantation from and then realized that telling Mard Geer might get his creation and him killed more swiftly. He grinned, "Why should I tell you that? It seems to me that the boy there is saving my life from you. It would be shameful of me not to help him don't you think?"

Mard Geer's expression turned even more sour, "I suppose I shall have to remove the book from your corpse to find out."

Precht grinned and aimed a finger gun, "You go right ahead and try that." The bullet magic rocketed forward at blinding speed and actually succeeded in rocking Mard Geer's head back as it slammed into his face right between the eyes. **_"_** ** _NICE!"_** Oby exclaimed as he sprang forward and began to pummel Mard Geer with everything he had, his hands and crackling tentacles dissolving into a blur of motion as he slammed attacks into every opening in Mard Geer's defenses with manic fervor.

Precht cast a glance around at the demons pulling themselves back to their feet and put the book away before raising a second finger gun with a grin, "Shall we dance?" Before the demons could reply Precht cut loose with a hurricane of bullet magic that rained down upon the demons like a storm of artillery. The instant Mard Geer and the demons thought the unexpected assault was letting up, Precht and Oby switched opponents. Precht's chain magic latched around Mard Geer's throat and ripped the Underworld King from his feet as Oby turned and unleashed a massive Storm Demon's Rage on the nearest demons.

The demons of Tartaros weren't quite sure how to handle the situation. It was the first time any of them could remember being battered about so easily. That being said though, they were among the oldest combatants in the world, and quickly regrouped. Slowly but surely, they began to regroup and once they had, they quickly began to force Precht and Oby onto the defensive until the two were back to back and surrounded. "Any last words?" Mard Geer asked smugly as he readied a curse to obliterate them.

"Just two," Precht replied with a cheeky grin as he held his hands in a gesture that the demons of Tartaros would never forget as a blinding golden light appeared between them. Precht clapped his hands together and the light became blinding as the sky seemed to open up and then Precht roared, " **FAIRY…** ** _LAW!_** _"_

There was a massive downburst of glowing golden power, and when Oby and Precht finished blinking the stars from their eyes, the eight demons facing them were gone. Precht coughed lightly, certain that his already pale hair had grown even whiter, "I had forgotten how much that takes out of me."

Oby stepped around him, his demonic form quickly fading back to human as he looked around with wide eyes. Then he looked up at Precht, "Hey Grandpa Precht?"

Precht looked down at him, slightly baffled by the term, "Yes?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you're _freaking awesome?!"_

Precht blinked in surprise and then began to laugh.

==Meanwhile, Aboard the Cube==

Lamy flinched as eight more tubes in Hell's Core began to bubble with power, "Thaaat's not good…" she muttered as the first thing to manifest in the tubes was a pair of eyes brimming with the smoldering fury of Mard Geer.

…

…

…

 ** _AN:_** _Before anyone goes to complaining that Oby and Precht are too strong, I'd like to point out three things:_

 _-Number one, Grimoire Heart was canonically stated to be the strongest of the Balam Alliance's Big 3 (Grimoire Heart, Oracion Seis and Tartaros), so it serves to reason that at the height of their power they could beat Tartaros._

 _-Number two, Oby was resurrected with the magical power of an entire town infused with vengeful intent stuffed into him for the sole purpose of hunting down and crushing the demons of Tartaros, and turning him into the perfect weapon to do so._

 _-Number three, even with that being said, Oby and Precht would have lost this fight against eight of the Nine Demon Gates (Silver's not dead yet and therefore hasn't been resurrected to join) plus Mard Geer if Precht hadn't used Fairy Law when he did, and they would've lost BADLY. They're strong enough to give those nine they fought in this chapter a workout, but they were still out numbered 4 to 1, and Mard Geer alone is about three times stronger than any of the others, so after he joined the fight it was effectively 5 to 1 since they had just lost Kyoka. A very large part of the reason is that Tartaros wasn't expecting them to put up_ any _sort of a fight against that many of them, and Oby's multiple elements of Demon Slayer Magic caught them severely off guard._

 _As for Kyoka, she tortured Erza (my favorite character) and I'm pretty sure there were some major rapey vibes in that scene. That is unforgivable, therefore Kyoka must die repeatedly, painfully and in ways that would make even her sadistic ass squeamish._


	2. Prologue 2

Chapter 2

==Two Weeks Later==

Oby obliterated the massive stone before him with a single strike from his storm infused fist, a huge grin spread across his features. Precht smiled, "Very good, it seems you're developing some control rather quickly. You have learned to summon your magic for close combat without reverting to your other form, now it is time for you to learn ranged combat. Come, stand by me and watch."

Oby quickly ran to Precht's side and watched with eager eyes. Precht raised his hand in his standard finger gun, "This is Bullet Magic, the first magic I learned. Summon your power into the tips of your fingers, it was easiest for me to begin with a sphere of magic, although now I can make other shapes." He summoned a cone shaped magic bullet just to demonstrate, "In rapid fire situations I usually revert to a sphere, but sometimes a different shape can lead to greater strength. Cone shaped magic bullets for example are very simple and easy to form like spheres, but they provide a much greater piercing power than spheres. Think of them as an arrow strike rather than a high powered punch."

"Now then," he continued, "Once you have summoned your bullet, you need merely aim and imbue the bullet with the purpose to strike. Observe." He launched his cone shaped bullet and it bored a hole straight through a nearby boulder. Oby's grin widened as stars formed in his eyes. Precht stepped aside and gestured to the boulder, "Now you try."

Oby bent his fingers into the right shape and frowned at the tips of his fingers as he concentrated. Then his head snapped back in surprise as a bow of wicked violet light formed in his hand. He looked at Precht in surprise and pointed at the bow, "Was that supposed to happen?"

Precht leaned in to examine it, "Interesting. It appears that rather than a bullet like my magic, yours will naturally take the form of arrows. Go ahead and try to fire one. I would imagine that the arrow will manifest when you draw the bowstring. Do be sure to aim."

Oby nodded and inhaled before stepping into a position to fire. He raised his bow and pulled the string as he took aim, a vicious crackling bolt of purple lightning appearing between his fingers. Oby grinned as he noticed it, " _Sweet._ " The he released the arrow and the boulder he'd been aiming at exploded as the bolt of lightning slammed into it.

"Very good," Precht declared proudly as the ground began to rumble, "Now if only your attack hadn't triggered a rock slide." He stroked his beard in the face of the oncoming boulders and then turned to look down at Oby, "You know what this means right boy?"

Oby shrugged with eyes riveted to the oncoming boulders. Precht grinned and raised his finger guns, " _Target practice!"_ Oby stared in shock for a second and then grinned before conjuring another lightning arrow and blowing an oncoming boulder to dust.

Precht smiled as he and his new protégé effortlessly began to pulverize the oncoming torrent of boulders, _I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a student!_

==Later==

Oby lay atop a boulder that one of his arrows had cleaved in two, grinning up at the sky, "That, was, _awesome_."

Precht smiled, "Yes, you are quite talented Boy. I'm very impressed and pleased. Especially for someone so young who only unlocked his magic a mere week ago, you are already quite a force to be reckoned with."

Oby's grin widened, "Thanks Gramps!" Precht chuckled, "Yes I do believe you will go quite far in this world Boy. Quite far indeed." Before Oby could properly bask in the glory of his grandpa's praise, they both jumped in surprise as a shriek rang out through the woods. Precht and Oby exchanged a glance and immediately took off running.

==Half an Hour Later==

Oby kept his eyes scrunched shut as he and Precht knelt over the half-naked woman and comforted her as she screamed. Oby wished the screaming would stop, but the Sky God Slayer magic Grandpa Precht had downloaded into his brain could only do so much, and he couldn't do anything about the pain, only ensure that the birth went without complications, and he was feeling fairly traumatized to know where babies came from. He had been pushing his healing magic into the woman for hours now, trying to help Grandpa Precht keep the woman from getting hurt.

He had been very surprised when they had found her leaned back against that tree screaming her lungs out, and even more surprised when Gandpa Precht had told him to start helping and how. Now here he was, holding the shoulders of a woman giving birth. _She's really pretty_ , he thought, _but something's off about her…and not just the current predicament._

Then a moment later there was a different cry added to the woman's and Grandpa Precht moved quickly beneath the sheet covering the woman's legs. A moment later he was wrapping something in cloth and handing it gently to the woman as she panted, "Congratulations, it's a girl!"

Then a chill ran down Oby's spine as the woman's face changed. He would later term it the most disturbing look he had ever seen as the woman snatched for the baby, "Give her here! My new body!" Precht's eyes widened and he quickly snatched the baby back and backed away with a frightened expression, "What?!"

"My new body…" the woman rasped as her voice changed into something deep and gravelly, "This one is ruined by the dragonification, but I can enchant myself into her…my daughter…my new life! _GIVE HER HERE!"_ She shrieked as she lunged at Precht, snatching at the baby.

Oby reacted instinctively as he leapt between them and lashed out with his magic. The woman howled and collapsed as the vicious purple of Oby's magic slammed into her. The last thing Oby saw was a massive crimson light erupting from her, then he blacked out from exhaustion.

Precht watched in awe as the massive crimson light erupted from the new mother and rose high, high into the air, taking on the shape of a dragon flaring feathered wings before bursting like a massive firework. "What on earth was that?" he asked himself quietly as the child in his arms wailed at the top of her tiny infant lungs and his young protégé collapsed.

He examined the scene before him and then, "Well I can't just leave her here with that woman." He leaned down and hefted Oby, tossing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and then he looked down at the beautiful woman with the long red hair sprawled on the ground breathing heavily, "I do not know who you are, young mother who spoke of dragons, but I hope that someday you might be able to reunite with your child on good terms, and perhaps will see fit to forgive me and my student."

Then he, Oby and the infant who would later come to be called Erza, were gone in a flash of purple light. Irene's half lidded and barely conscious eyes saw everything, but she couldn't even muster enough breath to beg the old man not to take her child. Then everything was dark.

==Twelve Hours Later==

Oby came to and bounced up, acutely aware that it had been daylight when he passed out, "Where are we? What happened? Is the crazy lady gone?" Precht sighed, "We're on a mountain overlooking a town called Magnolia. This is the home of the Fairy Tail Wiard Guild. I am trying to decide what to do with the baby, and please be quiet boy, she has only just gone to sleep." Oby immediately bit back his questions and walked over to peer down at the baby, "What are we going to do with her? Are we taking her to Fairy Tail?"

Precht shook his head, "No, I don't know that I would be welcome there anymore. I have changed too much. As for this child, I do not know that I could leave her there. Fairy Tail is a good place, a bright and happy one that I was once so happy to call home, but I don't know that it's a place for young children. Perhaps we should drop her at an orphanage, or at the house of some well meaning person…" He sighed, "You did very well back there Oby. I was able to look with the Arc of Time, what you did back there was something that even I likely could not have."

Oby's eyes widened and Precht smiled as he explained, "All Sky Slayer magics have certain healing properties, I don't know why but they do. Sky God Slayer Magic, which you used while we were helping that woman give birth, allows the healing of physical damage. Sky Dragon Slayer magic I have read is able to restore a person's energy and break their fatigue. Apparently, your Sky Devil Slayer Magic has the ability to break harmful enchantments. When you leapt between her and me, you lashed out instinctively with it, and broke the enchantment that had ruined that woman's life. We could take this child back to her, but I am unsure if she is in any sort of mental condition to raise a child." Then he smiled, "Whatever the case, I am very proud of you. You have done remarkably well today Oby."

Oby grinned from ear to ear and then he peered over at the baby, "So what'll we call her?" "Her name is Erza Belserion," Precht replied confidently, having plucked the answer from mystery with the Arc of Time, "That is the name her mother would've given her, we will not deny her that name."

"Oh, that's a pretty name," Oby replied with a smile, then he turned and blinked blearily down across the lake at the lights of the town below, "Grandpa, I'm sleepy. Can I take a nap?" Precht nodded, "Yes, go ahead, I'll wake you when I've decided what to do."

Oby yawned and smiled faintly, "Thanks Grandpa. Night…" He smiled over at Erza, "Night baby Erza…" then he keeled over backwards and rolled onto his side, curling up and snoring within a matter of minutes. Precht smiled faintly and then sighed as he looked back at the sleeping baby in his arms, _What am I going to do? I've got my hands full just raising Oby…no way can I handle a baby too!_

Then he blinked and remembered what he had found while studying Mavis during the creation of what he had dubbed the Fairy Heart. His brow furrowed and a few moments later he had reached a decision. He rose and knelt to lay Erza with Oby before laying a hand on Oby's head, "I'm sorry boy, but it will be better for all of us if you don't remember what happened today."

A moment later he was gone, leaving an unconscious Oby with the slumbering infant who would grow up to be called the Scarlet Angel, Erza Belserion lying cuddled together in the grass, not having the faintest idea that Oby would one day unknowingly call that spot where he first held Erza "home".

==The Next Day==

Oby sat on a bed at an inn in Rosemary Village scribbling away in his Grimoire, something Grandpa Precht had encouraged him to take up doing,

 _Grandpa did the strangest thing today. He made two babies with magic. I don't know how, but it's totally awesome that he did. One day I want to learn how to do awesome stuff like that. He told me I'd have to study hard, but he says that about everything. We didn't keep the babies, they were both girls and Grandpa said they'd both grow up to be really really strong, but I guess he just didn't want to deal with having babies around. That's okay though, babies are loud, and I'll always remember where we dropped them off. Grandpa says that when they're old enough to start learning magic we'll come back and get them. I wonder how long that'll be…_

 _On another note, I had the oddest dream last night. There was this really beautiful woman, she had the prettiest red hair…but she was so sad…she was all alone and crying her eyes out in the woods…I don't know why she was sad, but I wanted to make her feel better…Maybe one day I'll figure out who she was…If I ever do, I'm going to try to make her happy again._

 _Grandpa says we're going to go east tomorrow, I don't know where or what it's like there, but I can't wait to see what it's like when we get there!_

 _Oberon Williamson, August 3 X765_

Meanwhile, in the next room over, Precht sat at a small table he had conjured and finished his nightly entry…

 _Mavis, I don't know if what I've done today was right, and I'm certain you would be furious with me. The child I found when I was lacrimizing your body to try and buy time to find a way to revive you, I finally took her out. She's going to spend her first few years growing up in a little town called Rosemary Village alongside the daughter of a woman who I learned is the mother of all Dragon Slaying magic. Talk to Yuri about it, he can fill you in. It's a pleasant place and I think she'll be happy here._

 _Tomorrow I'm going to go east, I hear that there are many powerful wizards and strange magics beyond the sea. I wish to see them for myself. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but when I return, I'm coming back for your daughter, who I elected to name Zera after your childhood friend, and that girl I left to be her sister, Erza._

 _I may not be doing the right thing now by leaving them here Mavis, but one day I'll return and be the best father I can be to them. Your child will be the greatest wizard this world has ever seen, and she'll always have a family to love and cherish her as all of us did you. I swear that on my life and our friendship._

 _Precht, August 3 X765_

Precht sighed as he signed the entry. He didn't know when he had started phrasing his entries as letters to his friends, but now as the years weighed so heavily on him that he thought his back might break from the weight, he wondered if maybe it had been a bad idea. He closed the book and sighed again, _Mavis, Yuri, Warrod…I miss you all so much…_

==The Next Day==

Precht paused as Oby ran and peeked in the window at the orphanage where they had dropped the two girls off the night before. The sun was just coming up and the matron had just found the babies and hurried them inside. "Bye Erza, bye Zera…" Oby whispered with a smile as the matron fussed over the two confused infants, "See you soon! Don't worry, we'll be back before you ever know we were gone!"

Then he ran back to Precht and in a flash of purple light, they were gone.


	3. Prologue 3

Chapter 3 – The End of Precht Gaebolg?

==Meanwhile==

Makarov rolled over and grumbled, "Not now Mommy, just five more minutes…"

Then a horrible aura washed over him and a voice he only just barely remembered spoke from right next to his bed, " _Makarov."_

Makarov's eyes snapped wide open and he scrambled to an upright position as he stood on the bed and stared in shock at the glowing form next to his bed. "M- _Master Mavis?!_ "

Mavis's lethal expression momentarily disappeared into a radiant smile, "Hi! I've got a job for you Makarov!"

"GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!" Makarov howled in terror as he raced out the door. Mavis huffed irritably as she heard all of Fairy Tail begin to stir at their master's frightened scream. Mavis sighed in exasperation then put on her patented "Grumpy Guild Master" face and stormed out after him.

It took her a few minutes and her astral projection's ability to effectively teleport to track Makarov down and corner him, and when she did, he broke down in tears at her feet, "I'M SOOOOORRYY-Y-Y! I KNOW I'M A TERRIBLE MASTER AND THE GUILD HALL SMELLS LIKE BOOZE AND I'VE BEEN WAY TOO INDULGENT IN THE PARTIES BUT PLEASE FORGIVE MEEE-EE! I'VE TRIED TO BE A GOOD MASTER!"

Mavis felt a strong urge to smack her godson. "Makarov," Mavis said in a calm but firm voice that immediately made the diminutive mage clam up. Mavis sighed, "I am not angry about the state of the guild. I have a very important task for you that I can't entrust to anyone but family."

Makarov took a second to process that and then he leapt up and saluted with an almost comically serious expression, "Whatever you desire First Master, I shall make it so!"

Mavis smiled, "Good! There's a little village a ways east of here near the coast called Rosemary Village. I need you to come with me to Rosemary Village. There's someone very incredibly important who we need to pick up and bring back to the guild."

Makarov's eyes widened, "Of course! We'll go at once! You know I think that's even where Rob settled down, I can visit him while I'm out there!" Mavis smiled, "That's good, so you know where we're going. Come on, let's get going! I want to get there as soon as possible. I will _not_ let my daughter grow up in an orphanage when she has family to take her in!"

Makarov agreed enthusiastically and then it hit him what she had just said. The ensuing scream rattled all of Magnolia and woke up baby Laxus who had somehow managed to sleep through the first one, " ** _WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!_** "

Mavis paused and shot a flat look over her shoulder at him, "Oh trust me, you have _no idea_ how much of a surprise it was for _me._ As soon as you have Zera, I'm going after Precht to give him an earful he'll _never_ forget."

Makarov had never found the First Master of Fairy Tail to be anything but sweet and kind, but in that moment, he felt a very great sense of dread and pity for the Second.

==Far Away==

Precht stopped in his tracks, shuddered and felt a cold sweat break out all over him. Oby paused in trying to pull open the extra dimensional pocket spell Precht had taught him that morning as a precursor to teleportation magic, "What's wrong Grandpa? Did you see something?"

Precht cast a glance over his shoulder back towards the west and Magnolia, "No. Just a feeling. Are you having any luck?"

Oby was getting the magic circle to form no problem, but he was still having trouble manifesting the runes and seal within which would give the spell its purpose and power. They spent the next hour walking with Oby's nose in a book while Precht kept his eye open for things that might trip the young demon.

==Four Hours Later==

Makarov almost stumbled as Mavis suddenly changed form. Gone was the child like body that he could look in the eye. Now he was looking up at a vision of incomparable radiance and beauty. It was still undoubtedly the First Master, Makarov knew that without a doubt, but she had gone from adorable tiny and cute to a willowy figure of the finest elegance and loveliness.

"F-first master?" Makarov stammered, utterly stunned by the sudden transformation.

Mavis paused to shoot a glance down at him, "I am not going to have my baby drawing odd looks because of the appearance I held in life." Then she cast a glance sideways at something he could not see and leaned down to whisper with a small hint of nervousness, "I've never tried to alter my appearance before, do I look alright?"

"You look amazing," Makarov declared immediately and sincerely. Mavis smiled and Makarov felt as though the sun had suddenly inched a little closer to lend the world a touch more warmth.

"Good!" Mavis declared and then she straightened up and pointed off towards their destination, "Then let's go!"

==An Hour After That==

The matron at the orphanage opened the door and blinked, "Oh! Um, hello! Can I help you?"

Mavis smiled, "Yes, but I must implore you not to freak out over what I'm about to tell you." The matron immediately started to sweat and nervously agreed. Mavis smiled, "Well you see, I died in childbirth last night. Yes I'm a ghost. My uncle here lives in Magnolia a few hours away," Makarov waved, "and I was able to linger long enough to bring him here to pick up my child." Mavis finished. Then she steepled her fingers together nervously, "Her name is Zera Vermillion? There was a note with the basket? She is here right? Please tell me nobody's adopted my baby before we could get here!"

The matron looked at her incredulously, then looked at Makarov, then back at Mavis before pointing at her, "You're a ghost?" Mavis smiled, "Yep! You're taking this really well!" _SLAM!_

Mavis blinked in surprise as the door slammed in her face. Makarov sighed, "You may have spoken a little too soon there First Master."

Mavis sighed and poked her head through the door, "That won't stop me you know. Look, I just want my baby to be with her family, I don't think that's too much to ask!"

The matron shot a horrified look at her and then ran to grab the baby with the name tag that said Zera.

==Meanwhile==

Precht shuddered again and Oby shot him a concerned look, "Grandpa, are you _sure_ you're okay? That's the second time today you've done that." Precht shook his head, "I'm fine, just…just hungry. We'll stop in this town up here and get something to eat."

A few minutes later, Precht shuddered again, only this time, he had a concrete reason for the ice cold sweat that had broken out all over his body. Oby felt it too and looked over his shoulder, his eyebrows going up before he shot a glance at Precht, back at whatever was behind him, and then took a big step back, followed by turning and running about fifty feet down the road. He shouted over his shoulder as he ran, "GRAMPS I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO PISS HER OFF BUT I AIN'T HELPIN' YA WITH THIS ONE! IF YOU SURVIVE I'LL SEE YOU IN TOWN!"

Precht felt a sense of dread growing in his stomach. There was only one female who he could think of that he'd pissed off recently who had been powerful enough to make Oby run like that. He turned slowly, expecting to see a red haired vision of death standing behind him and was greeted with, "Mavis?"

Mavis smiled at him, seemingly completely innocent and just as sweet as she had ever been, "Hiii Precht…You know why I'm here?"

Precht took a second to believe what he was seeing and then, "MAAAVIIIS!" He bawled as he went to his knees and tried to hug her, "YOU'RE OKA-A-AY!" Then his arms went through her and Mavis's eyebrow twitched. Precht sat back on his heels and looked at her in confusion, "What the…" then it dawned on him, "Projection?"

Mavis smiled crookedly, "Yep. Turns out I can astral project from within the lacrima! Know what else I can do?"

"What?" Precht asked eagerly.

"I can _vaporize you for taking my baby girl to an_ _ **orphanage**_ _instead of Fairy Tail,_ " Mavis growled as her smile became a very fearsome thing indeed.

Precht was immediately as white as his hair, "Uh-oh…"

==A Minute Later==

Oby, and indeed the entire town jumped as they heard a woman's utterly hellish howl, " ** _FAIRY GLITTEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!_** "

Oby had made the mistake of looking back towards the horizon where he had left Precht as he bent over clutching his knees and gasping for breath after having run the last ten miles to town absolutely as fast as he could. Demons had nothing on a woman scorned. As he staggered about clutching his throbbing, temporarily blinded eyes and swearing, he knew that his instincts had definitely guided him right.

When the blinding light faded, Mavis stared at the spot where Precht had been with a cold look in her eyes. Then the cloud of red fury that had been fogging her mind cleared and her face twisted into one of horror as Precht's eye-patch fluttered down in front of her. Mavis took a step forward, her eyes riveted to the spot, "Precht? C-come on…you've seen me cast that a hundred times…you helped me develop it…you knew to dodge…quit…quit playing around…this isn't funny Precht! _Say something!_ "

For all that she had used her most powerful spell with enough force to rival an Etherion Blast, she hadn't been aiming for Precht. She had been aiming just to the left, intending to scare him as punishment for considering leaving her daughter at an orphanage (pure abandonment in Mavis's eyes), but she hadn't intended to kill him.

Now though, as she looked at the charred eye patch in front of her and began to run power calculations in her head, a dreadful chill settled over her heart. She had poured WAY too much power into the spell for a precision strike. Tears started to leak from her eyes and then stream freely down her cheeks as she raised her gaze to the crater now visible through the haze of dust and smoke. She raised her hands to cover her lips and started to tremble, "No…"

Her knees gave out and she went to the ground, quivering in horror, "No…" _I killed him…it wasn't even the curse…I…killed…Precht…_

The image of her best friend's faintly upturned lips that served as his biggest fondest smile that he always gave her when they talked about magic flashed through her mind and then Mavis broke and her scream rattled the countryside, " ** _PREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHT!_** "

Oby staggered as it felt like an immense mallet hit him in the chest. His eyes went wide and tears sprang forth as he realized it was the tenuous magical connection to the one that had revived him snapping as Precht left the mortal plane, "Gramps…"

 ** _END PROLOGUE_**

 ** _AN:_** _For those wondering, yes. I am a bit curious as to how exactly Mavis did not know she had a child in canon. I'm also a bit curious as to why exactly Mavis never bothered to send her thought projection ghost thingy to Fairy Tail to check in on everybody, or you know poke Precht or Yuri or Warrod and let them know she was okay. I'm more curious still why she wouldn't go poke Zeref and tell him she found a way around the curse's the-more-you-value-the-more-you-kill thing._

 _Yes, Makarov is taking Zera to Fairy Tail, and thus the reasoning for Erza's new nickname mentioned last chapter: "The Scarlet Angel". We can hardly call her the Fairy Queen when we've got Mavis's own daughter in the guild with power that's titanic enough that even_ _ **Gildarts**_ _canonically needed help to win against it. For all that Evergreen might want to contest it (and she wouldn't dare with Zera around) Zera's actually got a pretty legit claim to the title._


	4. Chapter 1: Fifteen Years Later

Chapter 1 – Fifteen Years Later

Oby looked up at the battered building his eyes roving across the many patches and clear spots of recent reconstruction. Many of them were poorly done. It was clear that random destruction of guild property was a common occurrence for Fairy Tail.

Oby raised an eyebrow as the sound of a brawl erupted inside, "So this is the place that's been giving Ultear and Siegrain such fits at the Council eh?" Then the magic started flying and an explosion blew Oby's hair back an instant before he sidestepped a young boy who came flying out the door. Oby vaguely wondered as the boy sprang up seemingly unharmed (or at least very used to it) and charged back into the fray, if the boy had been naked when the fight started or if the explosion had simply torched his clothes.

"Well," he mused as he took in the intense amount of magic power flying wild in the guild hall, "At least it makes sense now how they're able to give the Council fits. This much power in one place, it's little wonder they're trouble magnets." Then a blast of power set Oby's nerves on edge as a titanic voice roared, "SETTLE DOWN YOU BUNCH OF BRATS!"

Things were immediately quiet and Oby couldn't blame them in the slightest for piping down. He stared at the demolished door for a moment and then, "That's _got_ to be Makarov. Jose's gonna be in some real trouble if he lets that ego get the better of him…"

Oby had a titanic amount of power and he was extremely good at using it. He knew that. He also knew that whoever had just made all of Fairy Tail settle down was even _more_ powerful. Perhaps not by a staggering amount, but definitely a considerable amount. A grin spread across his face, "Looks like I came to the right place!"

He sprang up the dozen steps to the entrance in a single bound and slipped through the dismantled doorway. He immediately froze and his eye began to twitch. The guild hall looked like a warzone. Oby stood there twitching for a second and then a thought occurred to him and a sly grin slid over his face as he started to navigate his way across. It wasn't hard to sense the Fairy Tail guild's resident power houses, and Makarov was like a great glowing beacon of magical power that Oby was able to instantly home in on.

The Fairy Tail Guild Master was a surprisingly diminutive man, small enough that he was able to sit cross legged on the bar with more than ample room to lay down and probably roll around if he felt like it. His face was weathered behind his bushy white mustache and etched with lines that indicated his age, but also his good nature as most of them were smile lines. One who hadn't felt his power might mistake him for an ordinary and harmless midget. Those who had though would notice the razor sharp mind hiding in the warm eyes above the mustache, the same eyes that zeroed in on Oby as he made his way over.

Oby made note of the young woman behind the bar. She was about his age if he had to guess, but she was also _extremely_ well developed (something shown off excellently by her midriff baring top and denim shorts so short that they were little more than underwear), and as Oby took in her shockingly pretty face, the sharp blue eyes and stark white hair made him immediately wonder if she was related to an old girlfriend of his. The fearsome magic power radiating off her like a dare to speak to her was also a bit reminiscent of his old girlfriend Oby mused as he strode up to the bar.

He smiled warmly in the best imitation he could of his Grandpa Precht's smile, "Hello, my name's Oby. I'm looking to join a wizard guild. I'm guessing you would be the person to talk to about that?"

"Oh?" Makarov asked innocently, "And what makes you say that?"

Oby shot a glance over his shoulder at the battlefield that was the Fairy Tail Guild Hall before turning back to Makarov and jerking his head at the remnants of the chaos, "You settled _that_ down with a shout. Also," his confident grin turned slightly embarrassed, "my buddies on the Magic Council think I'll fit in here."

A steely guarded light entered Makarov's eyes although his smile didn't waver even as the beautiful girl behind the bar paused in cleaning out the mug in her hand. "Oh really?" Makarov asked politely, "And why is that?"

Oby shrugged and looked like he was going to blow it off, "Weeell…" then he slumped and looked mildly depressed, "I'm kinda really destructive when I fight, and I fight a _LOT_ , and even though I fix everything I break, I've still had to deal with the council over a dozen times in the last year because I make such a mess. They finally got fed up a few months ago and told me that if I didn't join a guild they were putting a price on my head. My gramps brought me here once when I was a little kid and told me it was a bright and happy place, and my friends Ultear and Siegrain told me it's full of strong wizards who are just as destructive as I am…Bob-san over at Blue Pegasus said I'd fit in here when I dropped by to scope them out, and so did Goldmine-san when I went to try drinking at Quatro Cerberus because I thought for sure _they_ could handle it, so I thought, ya know…maybe I could join?"

Makarov considered that, "Hmm…I'm a little insulted that we were only your third choice."

Oby immediately paled and started to babble, "No no! It wasn't like that! Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus were just on my way here! And I saw this really pretty girl go into Blue Pegasus and I smelled food and decided 'ya know what? I'm eatin' with Blue Pegasus tonight!' and then after that Bacchus was drunk and wanted to fight so I pummeled him and then helped him home because he wasn't being malicious he's just boisterous and then Goldmine-san told me the same thing Bob-san and Ultear and Siegrain did about me needing to come by and I headed this way as soon as I sobered up!"

Makarov gazed at him calmly and then began to rummage in his coat. A moment later he pulled out a marble which grew into a crystal ball. Then a moment later the balding round face of Blue Pegasus' Master Bob appeared in it, "Maky! How are you? It's been so long!"

Makarov smiled, "Hello Bob, I just met a young wizard who claims you sent him my way. Would you care to verify that?"

"Ohhh Oby finally made it to you? I was hoping you'd call to ask about him!" Bob asked delightedly, "Yes of course I sent that darling young man to you! He's an old friend of ours here at Blue Pegasus, he does the _loveliest_ work with his magic! Did you know that he's the one who built the _Christina_? I would've happily kept him, but I couldn't deny him such a good opportunity as joining Fairy Tail! He just utterly _oozes_ the sort of rambunctious wild roguishness that makes Fairy Tail so much fun," Bob tittered, "But at the same time he's also got such good manners, and I just know his magic will be helpful with how much trouble your kids get into!"

"Oh?" Makarov asked with interest as he flicked his gaze up at Oby, "What sort of magic?"

"Oh it's best if you let him surprise you with it!" Bob simpered, "Trust me, once you see it you won't be able to turn him away! He's simply _amazing!_ " Bob gushed, "If you decide you don't want him, biggest mistake of your life, then by all means send him back to us! We'd be delighted to keep him and my girls will probably all swoon!"

Makarov raised an eyebrow, "Really?" His gaze flickered back up to Oby, "Must be some talent you've got there kid!" Oby bowed slightly with an earnest smile, "I try very hard Master Makarov, and thank you very much for your kind words Master Bob. Please pass around a hug for me."

"Oh I certainly will you naughty boy!" Bob laughed as his face turned in the crystal ball to face Oby, "Now even after you join Fairy Tail you be sure to come and see us okay?"

Oby's smile widened slightly, "I shall strive to drop by every time I pass through the area."

"Good!" Bob replied with a smile before turning back to Makarov, "Now Maky, do try to call more often, I'd love to catch up sometime other than the masters' conference. No need to be such a stranger all the time!"

Then the crystal ball faded back to a simple milky white and Makarov looked up at Oby, "Well, it seems Bob certainly has taken a liking to you." Oby smiled, "I… might have cleaned their entire guild hall and done all their chores in a matter of minutes with my magic to pay for my dinner one night."

Makarov's eyebrows immediately shot up and the young woman behind the bar scoffed, "So what? You're a magical janitor?" Oby turned a flat look on her, _attitude to match the outfit I see…_ He smiled thinly, "I can do much more than that, but yes, janitorial tasks are well within my capabilities."

Makarov nodded after casting a glance at the girl behind the bar, "I see. So you cleaned up Quatro Cerberus's guild hall as well I'm guessing? You must have truly tremendous fortitude." Quatro Cerberus was one of the few guilds that could make a legitimate claim to being even _more_ rambunctious than Fairy Tail.

Oby snickered and then he full on laughed, "Yeah I cleaned it, but not until after I personally trashed it! Bacchus wanted a rematch when he woke up and the whole guild got in on it! That was one _hell_ of a romp!"

"You can say that again," Goldmine declared as Oby noticed that his face had appeared in the crystal ball. When Makarov had opened the communication link Oby wasn't sure, but he was slightly embarrassed at having been caught boasting. Goldmine turned to look at Makarov, "Makarov, I'm sending him to you. I never thought I'd say it, but he's _too_ wild. He put half my guild in the hospital and nearly destroyed our guild hall before I managed to sober him up with my magic to stop him."

Makarov looked over his shoulder at the white haired girl who was now looking at Oby with a hint of interest, "Mira, absolutely _no alcohol for Oby._ "

Oby frowned and leaned in closer to the crystal ball, "I fixed your guild hall and offered to heal your guys. It's not my fault you threw me out before I could. Also, you need more cute girls in there. I told you all up front that without any cute girls around getting me drunk was a bad idea."

Goldmine turned a flat gaze on him, "Yes and I've already smacked Bacchus for spiking your drink, along with everyone else who took part in winding you up like that. Doesn't change the fact that I can't afford to have you busting up my wizards all in one go."

Oby pouted, "Fine." "And even worse than that," Goldmine added, "We fight and put each other in the hospital and destroy the guild hall all the time. That's not a problem. What is a problem: You drank. All. Our. _Booze."_

Oby flinched, "How much liquor did you people give me?! I can't remember shit of what happened after that twentieth drink!"

"Bacchus was giving you 180 proof instead of tequila after the third shot," Goldmine declared bluntly, "And after he ran out of that the two of you made a game of seeing how much you could chug before you passed out. You drank _thirty kegs of rum_ before you went nuts _. Thirty. KEGS._ That was an entire week's supply! And it was our good 151 proof Bacardi!"

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Makarov, Mirajane and Oby all exclaimed in unison, "HOW ARE/AM YOU/I NOT DEAD?!"

"Apparently you have a stupidly high tolerance for liquor," Goldmine replied bluntly.

"I didn't even have a hangover…" Oby muttered in slight mortification.

"That's disgusting," Goldmine declared before turning to Makarov, "Makarov I don't think anyone but Fairy Tail can _handle_ him! He says the Council's ordered him to join a guild, but I really don't think anyone else can deal with someone that absurdly wild!"

Oby scratched his head in mild embarrassment with a small grin, "Thanks Boss Goldmine, that means a lot comin' from you."

Goldmine shot him a flat look and then turned back to Makarov, "Good luck Makarov, you're gonna need it with this one."

Then the projection ended and Makarov thought over what his old friends had said. He looked up at Oby, "Well then, I suppose there's only one question now." He pulled a magical stamp from under the bar, "Where do you want your guild mark and what color?"

Oby shrugged off his coat and the outer layer of his karate gi before rolling up the sleeve of the shirt he wore under it to reveal his left shoulder, "Red please. It's my favorite color."

Makarov pressed it to his shoulder and pulled it away a moment later, leaving the symbol of Fairy Tail etched in red into his shoulder. Oby smiled at it and then flipped his gi top and coat back up onto his shoulders, "Thank you Master." A quick transformation spell washed over his coat and suddenly Fairy Tail's emblem was etched onto the fabric right over where it was on his skin.

It was about then that Mirajane shot Makarov a sly grin, "Hey Master, can I give him a proper Fairy Tail welcome?"

Makarov looked at her and then sighed, "Take it outside Mirajane. We just settled one fight, and if you get half as fired up as you do with Erza, then you'll wreck the guild hall if he's even half as tough as Goldmine cracks him up to be."

Mirajane smiled viciously, "You got it Master." Oby set his bag on a barstool and was suddenly at the door looking over his shoulder at her, "You coming?"

Mirajane blinked in surprise and then her vicious grin returned ten fold as she smelled a challenge, "Oh this is gonna be _fun._ " She leapt across the bar and followed Oby out, smirking as he held the door for her. Makarov counted down as the door swung shut, "Three…two…one…"

 _"_ _ **SATAN SOUL!"**_ The sound of blows landing rapidly could be heard immediately as sharp and clear as gun fire. Makarov slid off the bar and strode across the guild to the door to watch the fight.

When he reached the door, he blinked, not quite sure what he was looking at. There was no way the new guy could really be effortlessly slapping aside Mirajane's vicious barrage of Takeover enhanced punches with one hand, right? _He hospitalized half my guild and damn near demolished the place before I could sober him up with my magic to stop him._ Makarov felt himself start to sweat as Goldmine's words echoed in his mind.

Then Oby caught one of Mirajane's punches in the palm of his hand and the impact shattered the street under him. Oby's arm though, _didn't flinch._ It was then that Mirajane began to wonder if she might, maybe, be in over her head. Then Oby yanked her close and wrapped an arm around her waist as though they were dancing with a smirk. He even slid past her punch to his face so that her free arm went over his shoulder to make it look like she was going along with it! "You know," he told her quietly as his green eyes bored into her blue, "You make a terribly cute she-devil."

Mirajane couldn't help it. She blushed in surprise at the compliment. Oby jerked his head towards Magnolia with a smile, "Can I buy you lunch, Miss, Mirajane was it?" "Um, sure…" Mirajane replied, slightly out of breath from her relentless (and fruitless) assault. Then there was an eruption of cheers, whooping and cat calls from the door and windows of the Guild Hall. Mira and Oby both went as white as their hair as they realized the entire guild had been watching and worse, _listening._

Mirajane immediately sprang back, red faced and spluttering, "I-I meant that you're _so_ buying me lunch after I win! And cake! And you're taking me shopping!"

Oby blinked with a blank expression and then his face twisted into a smug smirk, "Very well, after _I_ win, I'm buying you lunch, cake _and_ dinner, and I'm taking you shopping for something sexy to wear on our _next_ date."

What little of Mirajane's composure she had recovered immediately vaporized as the catcalls began anew after a moment of stunned silence. "DON'T YOU MOCK ME!" she screeched as she leapt at him.

Time seemed to slow down for Mirajane midflight as she realized Oby was inhaling. There was only one person she knew who did that and she knew exactly what came next, " ** _FIRE DRAGON…"_** Oby rumbled, " ** _ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!_** **"**

Mirajane only narrowly managed to dive out of the way of the massive firestorm and tumbled to a landing, staring in shock at the glowing stone left in wake of the brief but terrifyingly powerful firestorm, "Holy shit…"

Oby smiled a trifle smugly, "I'm almost surprised you managed to evade that. You must have fought a Slayer before to have known what that was."

"YOU'RE A FIRE DRAGON SLAYER TOO?!" Half the guild shouted. Oby turned to look at them and put a hand on his hip, "I'm a lot more than that, but I'm guessing you all know one?"

Half the guild started to panic, "HE'S LIKE A GIANT NATSU!" Oby sighed and then raised a finger to his lips and let out a piercing whistle, "OI! I CAN DO A LOT MORE THAN- GYAK!"

Mirajane had taken advantage of his distraction to summon a torrent of water and douse him with it, reasoning that water beat fire. She was mortified when her hydro drill suddenly froze. Then without warning it began to glow and Mirajane felt the magic that had been controlling it ripped from her control as the ice suddenly disappeared, right down Oby's gullet. Oby wiped his mouth with a thumb and looked at Mirajane with an excited fire burning in his eyes that she refused to admit stirred things other than an eagerness to fight in her.

"That was tasty," Oby told her with a savage grin very similar to her own, "I never get to eat magic that sweet! Allow me to return the favor… _Water Devil…_ " Mirajane and the rest of the guild felt their guts drop in unison and then a massive torrent of water erupted from Oby's hand, " _Riptide!"_

Mirajane folded her hands in front of her and attempted to split the torrent around her with her magic. She managed to deflect most of the force, but she was still driven backwards several feet and thoroughly drenched. To make matters worse, her Takeover was immediately dispelled, so she was left in nothing but her normal clothes...which were now soaked through and clinging to her. Then the entire street froze. Mira tried to ignore the cold and then noticed where Oby's eyes were. Of all the days to have worn a thin top and no bra! Her face twisted in indignation as she covered herself, "EYES UP HERE PERVERT!"

Then Oby was right in front of her, crouched low with pure determination blazing in his eyes as he started to twist. Mirajane had an instant of mortification before the tremendous uppercut slammed into her solar plexus. She was immediately doubled over as the wind was driven out of her. _WHAT THE HELL?!_ She screamed in her mind as her feet left the ground, _HE HITS LIKE A FUCKING TRAIN!_

Then suddenly Oby was holding her in his arms and a feeling of relief washed over her. "And," he muttered in her ear, "Sky God Slayer's Restoration." Mirajane's bruises were instantly brushed away as easily as dust by the magic washing over her and she found herself suddenly feeling better than she could recall having felt in at least a few months.

Mirajane was not holding onto him for dear life, and she was definitely not blushing at how close he was or how good it felt to be held like she was something terribly precious, and she _definitely_ did not pant huskily in his ear in a way that turned him on. No matter what the others tell you, she _definitely did not_. Nuh-uh, no way. "Why?" she asked after she caught her breath, "Why did you heal me?"

She felt Oby smile into the side of her neck and tried very hard to ignore what her body was screaming at her as he muttered, "I didn't really want to fight you, but you were so into it that I couldn't help but get excited myself. Remember when I told you that I always try to fix what I break? If I'm going to leave marks on you, I'd much rather they be hickies and little bite marks than great big bruises. On that note, I should probably warn you, I do like to nibble."

 _HOLY CRAP HE'S SUCH A PERV!_ Mira thought to herself, then she quietly (even in her own mind) admitted to herself that she was also kind of enjoying the attention. Outwardly though, she knew she could not afford to appear to lose control of the situation, not with everyone watching. Her reputation would be shot straight to hell! The obvious solution? She leaned back a little bit and tilted his jaw up to look her in the eyes as she gave him the most smoldering look she could with a little smile, "So, I bet I can make you surrender in one move."

Oby raised an eyebrow with a cheeky grin, "I'm listening." Then Mira leaned forward and kissed him. Just as Oby started to kiss back, she pulled away with a teasing grin and laid a finger over her lips, "Mmm-mmm…you want more you have to surrender."

Then Oby's hand wrapped around the back of her head and he pulled her a little more firmly to him with the arm around her waist. She felt her heart skip a beat as he locked eyes with her and then he kissed her back. She started to melt and then Oby pulled back and declared with a sly grin, "You win." After a starstruck moment Mirajane gave up and smiled back, "Yes I did."

==Half an Hour Later==

Makarov almost felt bad for the café owner, having nearly the entirety of Fairy Tail descend on his restaurant right after Mirajane and Oby walked in. The poor wait staff had looked liable to have a concerted stroke. Only those who were out on jobs hadn't tailed the two. It was just too mind boggling for them not to. The terror of Magnolia, the She-Devil Mirajane, was on a _date_ with a guy she hadn't had to beat up and drag to the date? She had never done that before, but with the way she treated everyone except her siblings, it wouldn't have surprised them if she'd had to beat a guy near senseless to make him go out with her.

So now nearly all of his brats were crammed into the café ordering quietly and remarkably politely to try and avoid drawing Mirajane's attention. He had to note though, that they were all being incredibly well behaved. He would've been panicking slightly at the sight of them all being so quiet if he hadn't understood the situation.

"It's _weird_ ," Laxus whispered as he stared at the little corner booth where he could see Mirajane looking, _sweet_ and _happy_. Then something happened that nearly gave the entire guild a massive simultaneous heart attack. Mirajane _laughed._ Not her usual malicious cackle, a genuine, sweet _laugh_. The guys in particular felt themselves die a little inside as Mira gave Oby a smile as genuine as the laugh had been and they all realized in unison what they had previously missed in their terror of her, _OH MY GOD SHE'S GORGEOUS!_

"Gramps?" Laxus asked. Makarov tilted his head to indicate he was listening even though his eyes were still glued to the angelic looking figure in devil's clothing, "Uh-huh?" "Am I an idiot to have not noticed she was this beautiful sooner?" Laxus asked, his eyes rooted in the exact same way. Makarov shook his head slightly, "No, I don't think anyone could've seen this one coming."

"Holy crap," Gildarts muttered from next to them, "Is that Mirajane?"

Makarov and Laxus snapped around to look at him in shock and asked in unison, "When did you get here?!" They were distracted, but there was no way they had missed Gildarts coming through a wall!

Gildarts flinched, "Eh? Me and Natsu and Lisanna just got back from our fishing trip." Then Laxus and Makarov's heads snapped back around as they became aware of Lisanna sliding into the booth next to Mirajane while Natsu and Happy freaked out next to the table.

Makarov recovered his voice quickly, "Yes, Mirajane's getting to know our newest member. He came quite highly recommended." Gildarts raised an eyebrow, "Really? What's he do?"

"YOU'RE A DRAGON SLAYER TOO?!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed. Gildarts' jaw dropped, then he turned to Makarov, "Is he?!"

Makarov nodded, "Yes, a very powerful one at that. He apparently has several forms of magic. Master Bob of Blue Pegasus claims that Oby's the one who built their flying bomber Christina and he's apparently a very popular fellow there. Goldmine from Quatro Cerberus all but begged me to never let him near their Guild Hall again on the grounds of him hospitalizing half their guild, nearly demolishing their Guild Hall and drinking enough booze in one night to have a party for an entire town. Also, the Magic Council basically ordered him to join a guild or be branded a criminal. He claims his grandfather told him about Fairy Tail when he was a child and spoke very highly of us."

"I'm not surprised," Mavis muttered quietly, "I recognize him." Makarov, Gildarts and Laxus all snapped around in shock to look at her. It was the first time Mavis had manifested in eight years. "M-master Mavis…" Makarov stammered, "You're here…"

Mavis nodded and her grip tightened around the illusory cup of coffee she had conjured for herself, "I came to tell you. He's Precht's apprentice. That's who he's talking about when he says Grandpa. Don't…don't tell him who I am." She added as she tilted her head forward so that her hair covered her eyes. Tears started to stream down her cheeks as she whispered, "He was there, the day I killed Precht." She started to tremble, "He's our family and I don't want him to leave because of my most horrible mistake."

Then Oby's voice rang out, "You know Master Mavis," the whole café suddenly went absolutely silent as Mavis's heart skipped a beat and every Fairy Tail wizard in the room spun and craned to get a look at their enigmatic first master, "I knew exactly who you were when you showed up fifteen years ago. Grandfather had told me a lot about you. The past is past, I bear no grudge. I know you didn't mean it."

Then he returned to his conversation as though nothing had happened. Makarov, Gildarts, Laxus and Mavis stared and then Mavis's tears started fresh. "I need to go…" she whispered, "Before the curse strikes again…"

Makarov reached out to stop her, but she was already gone. There was a sudden quiet and then Oby suddenly barked, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN ZERA'S DEAD?!"

==Later==

Mirajane was more than a little miffed that her first date ever had ended so abruptly, but at the same time, she knew that the death of Zera Vermillion was an absurdly sensitive subject for Fairy Tail. _I thought Oby was just now joining…how did he know Zera? Why is he so worked up about it?_

Then she started as Oby went to his knees before the grave, tears streaming down his face. She heard him swear quietly as Makarov looked away in…what? Guilt? "Ten years of training to break that curse," Oby said quietly as he stared at the gravestone with a dead beaten look, "Ten years and I was eight too late?" He tilted his head forward and tears started pouring, "Grandpa, I'm so sorry…" Oby was quiet for several minutes and then he asked quietly, "What about Erza? Is she okay?"

Mirajane started slightly, _The hell has_ _ **ERZA**_ _got to do with this?!_ Makarov voiced the same thought an instant later. Oby looked at him as though he was speaking gibberish and then a look of mortification covered his face, "Wait, _are you telling me you didn't get Erza when you went to pick up Zera?!_ "

Makarov was immediately ghostly pale, "What? What are you talking about?" Oby's jaw dropped, "THEY DIDN'T TELL YOU?! _There were two girls on that doorstep that morning! I thought they were twins!_ "

Then Oby froze and his hand snapped out to grab Makarov by the sleeve, "Has Lady Belserion showed up here yet?"

"L-lady Belserion?!" Makarov stammered, "You mean you know where Erza's family is?!"

" _I HELPED DELIVER HER WHEN SHE WAS BORN!"_ Oby exclaimed as he leapt to his feet, "SHIT! HANG ON I'LL BE RIGHT BACK! WAIT," he paused halfway through conjuring a portal, "Where's Erza? Lady Belserion's one of the three most powerful mages I've ever met, and she's probably gonna try to kill me if she recognizes me. Bringing her here with Erza nowhere nearby would be suicide."

"Erza's on a job right now," Makarov told him, "She should be back in a few days! Do I need to be worried about a fully grown version of Erza coming here on a rampage?!" "No, if she hasn't found Erza or me yet then she's not likely to now," Oby declared, "but yeah there may be some rampaging if I bring her here. Crap…" he muttered, then he smacked a fist into his palm as the lightbulb visibly went on in his head, "I'll just take Erza to her! Then if Lady Belserion attacks me, it'll be on her turf not here!"

Then a horrifying thought crossed his mind and he snapped a terrified look at Makarov, "Please god tell me nothing bad's happened to Erza. Like, _ever_." Makarov immediately went ghostly pale and Oby looked about ready to pull his hair out in terror as he howled, "I'M DOOOOOOOOOOMED!"

Mirajane decided she had had quite enough of being out of the loop, "What are you talking about?!" she demanded irritably, "And why is Erza so important?!"

Oby blinked and looked at her. Then he went pale, "Oh shit, sorry Mira. The news about Zera really threw me. Um, yeah…heheh…guess I should explain huh?" He smiled and sat down, "Well ya see, about fifteen years ago, I was out training in the woods with my grandpa. I was like, three or four years old at the time. We were just finishing up for the day when we heard this scream. We ran to see who it was and found a woman giving birth. Well Gramps was never one to let a lady suffer so he used Archive Magic to teach me Sky God Slayer healing magic in an instant and we helped her with the birth. It wasn't until after we had Erza in hand that we realized Lady Belserion was cursed and out of her mind. I broke the curse with my Demon Slayer magic when she tried to attack us to get at Erza and she passed out, but we didn't realize I could do that when it happened, so Grandpa got us out of there as quick as he could."

Oby sighed, "I woke up across the lake on the mountainside that night. Grandpa explained what had happened and then when I fell back asleep he altered my memories to protect me. The next morning, we dropped off Zera and Erza at an orphanage in a little village called Rosemary because we knew that we couldn't take care of them. Grandpa died that afternoon."

Oby chewed over his next words thoughtfully and then, "Grandpa's memory magic faded ten years ago and I was able to remember what had happened. Then I used my magic to gain some understanding of what happened and decided to carry on my Grandpa's efforts to find a way to break the curse on Master Mavis. I've spent the last ten years trying to train my magic to be strong enough to break that curse. Between my Devil Slayer ability to break curses and my God Slayer ability to royally screw anything with a touch of the divine to it, combining my abilities _should_ be able to finally break it." He sighed, "Not that it much matters now. It's already struck where I wanted it to the least. If she returns to her comatose state, which she seems to have done now, then the curse will be rendered inactive until she wakes up."

"Curse? What curse?" Mira asked, a hint of nervousness edging into her voice.

The corner of Oby's mouth twitched up into a faint grin, "It's called Ankhserahm Black Magic, or the Curse of Contradiction. It's the punishment for using the forbidden magic known as Law which holds power over life and death. The god of life and death, Ankhserahm, doesn't take kindly to people treading on his toes, so he exacts the most sadistic curse imaginable on those who do. The more a person with the curse values life, the more the curse kills everything around them. It's only by just straight up refusing to give a shit about anyone or anything that the curse can be prevented from killing at random. Master Mavis was able to refine Law so that it doesn't inflict the curse anymore, instead it now takes about a day off the life of the user for every target it's used on. So you could wipe out an army at the cost of your own life, or just one person and only lose a day."

"Wait…" Mirajane said as a horrible thought occurred to her, "You mean that there's a spell that can undo _death?!_ " A faint glimmer of hope erupted in her chest as the memory of her parents flashed across her mind.

"No," Oby replied, "Mavis pulled her friend back from the brink of death, but not beyond. Zeref got the curse just for _attempting it._ To my knowledge, there's never been a successful resurrection. Theories exist on how it might be done, but it's never been pulled off, and after Zeref, nobody's been stupid enough to try Law to pull it off. The cost is way too high. You don't get what you want and you lose everything you had just for trying."

He exhaled, "Well." He rose to his feet and forced a smile to his face, "I do believe that's enough gloomy stuff for one day. Mira if it's not too bold, I'd rather like to resume our date. I sincerely apologize for letting it be interrupted, but I still intend to give you an enjoyable evening if you're willing."

Mira thought about it for a moment and then grinned, "Alright. Why don't we go get your mind off things?" She looped her arm through his and tangled his fingers in hers, "Let's go handsome! Maybe this time we won't have to deal with so many eavesdroppers, right Master?" she added as she shot a glance over her shoulder.

Makarov nodded, "Yes I'll try to make sure you have some privacy this time. I apologize for earlier, we were just too interested to not follow."

"Well if you wouldn't mind," Mira asked with a bit of unusually polite steel in her voice, "Save the curiosity for tomorrow." She tightened her grip on Oby's hand a little bit, "He's mine for the rest of the night."

 **AN:** _Yep, sorry, big timeskip. Don't worry, all will be made clear as the story goes along._

 _Reviews are always welcome! :D_


	5. Chapter 2: Takoyaki and the Witch

Chapter 2

==Later That Afternoon==

Oby and Mirajane walked along in silence. Mira was starting to grow mildly concerned. He had been very attentive when she dragged him to her favorite clothing store, not complaining in the slightest as she tried on outfit after outfit and giving her honest and thorough opinions on every outfit she modeled for him. She wouldn't have guessed she'd look so good in white and red, but Oby had picked her out a short red dress with white stockings and asked her to let her hair down. She'd been a little skeptical, but when she tried them on she had to admit that it _did_ look good on her.

She had gotten half a dozen new outfits out of the trip, all of which Oby insisted on paying for out of his apparently exceptionally deep pockets. "You can pay me back by letting me see you in them again some time," he told her with a playful grin. Now he was carrying all her bags over his shoulder so that she could have her hands free to enjoy the ice cream he'd gotten her (he'd finished his own in three bites). All in all, Mira had to admit that she'd definitely come out ahead on this date.

Now though, there was something niggling in the back of her mind. _Why did he ask me out?_ She didn't like the thought, but it kept rolling around in her head. Everyone else had always been terrified of her, even Laxus didn't want to be around her often and though she didn't like to admit it even to herself, the stupid shock jock had nothing to fear from her. _Of course,_ she mused, _Oby hasn't been around me very much, and he's DEFINITELY stronger than me. Probably stronger than Laxus too. Not Gildarts strong, but I don't think anyone else but the Master could fight him._

Mira scowled slightly and growled faintly. Oby's attention immediately snapped to her, "Something wrong?"

Mira turned a penetrating glare on him, "Why did you ask me out?"

Oby blinked, then he thought for a moment and explained in an extremely matter-of-fact tone, "You're beautiful, and the taste of your magic indicates that no matter what façade you put up for the rest of the world, you are actually a very sweet and caring person. Your mastery of your magic indicates that you are highly intelligent and the fact that you managed to fight against me for as long as you did tells me that you're physically fit as well as mentally, and I can sense that you have quite a considerable amount of magic power. Mmm…" He took a moment's pause to contemplate any other reasons he might've had then, "Really it was just a spur of the moment thing. You being so close…" he blushed faintly, "and that _was_ a pretty dynamite kiss…" He smiled at her, "Can you blame me for wanting to do it again? Um, Mira?"

Mirajane's head was down so that her bangs shadowed her eyes and her free hand was clenched into a fist. Even more than that though she was shaking slightly. The color immediately drained from Oby's face as he started to frantically review his explanation for anything that could've come out horribly wrong. Then it hit him, _Oh god, does she think I just want in her pants?!_

Then Mira's hand snapped out and caught him by the lapel before yanking him over to her. Oby's face was mere inches from hers as she lifted a terrifying gaze to meet his and demanded in an utterly murderous voice, "How in the flying _fuck_ did you get all that out of one fight?"

Oby blinked, "Well, certain qualities of a person's magic usually reflect their personality. Scent, smell, color…I've studied magic intensively for most of my life, so I've learned how to deduce a lot about people from their magic, and I had to learn how to read people based on everything else to supplement that…on top of that I've got really good instincts…I had a hunch I'd enjoy spending time with you and," he gave her the warmest, most honest smile he could, "I was right!"

Mirajane looked away, but her grip didn't slack up, "Magic reflects personality huh…"

Oby immediately understood what she was saying. He reared back and headbutted her lightly, "OI! No misinterpreting what I said as an insult!"

Mirajane looked much more shocked and offended than hurt as she let go of his jacket to cover her forehead, "What?!"

Oby gave her a very annoyed look, "I saw it go through your head. You've caught a lot of flack for your Takeover Magic haven't you? You thought I was saying that it said something very bad about you and I said nothing of the sort!"

Mira's eyes widened and Oby continued, "Anyone can learn any type of magic. Your Satan Soul is rather unique yes, I don't know how you got demon particles in your system to trigger it, but they say nothing about who you are. Magic doesn't determine who you are. The only thing that's important is who you _choose_ to be. Look at me, I'm a Demon Slayer, a God Slayer, a Dragon Slayer and I use _Time_ Magic which can cause anything I aim it at to crumble and decay. However," he added with a raised finger, "I also use maker magic, my time magic can repair things as easily as destroy them, and I know over half a dozen different other types of magic besides those on top of a couple of Curses I've reverse engineered from fighting demons who used them. _None of them_ define me. I am me, and you are you. We can use whatever magic we want, but the only thing that determines who we are is who we choose to be."

He exhaled slightly at the stunned expression Mirajane was wearing and continued, "Look. I think you're beautiful and sweet and amazing and I haven't had my heart do that little flippy dippy thing it does when you smile in months. I don't care what kind of magic you use and I have been genuinely enjoying your company. I don't know if that's reasonable excuse to ask a girl on a date, my previous two girlfriends, we just kinda wound up making out in the heat of the moment and things rolled along from there. I've, never actually asked a girl out before. Sorano and Ultear just kinda dragged me along whenever something fun they wanted to do was up and I was happy to tail along behind them."

Mirajane blinked and then went a little pale, "Ultear as in _Councilwoman Ultear? As in the Magic Council?!_ "

Oby blinked, "Yeah, I told you I had friends on the council. Ultear was my first girlfriend. We met in a library of sorcery hunting info on time magic and wound up learning it together. We were the only friends we had in the world at the time, so we eh, wound up dating for a little while. We still keep in touch and I see her every time I get hauled before the council. Then Sorano was part of a traveling group of wizards I met a few years ago. We exchanged magic knowledge, I learned the basics of Dragon Slaying which I was then able to use to reverse engineer every element I know as well as several other kinds of magic, and during a spar we fell on top of one another and, well…it was kinda like what happened with you. Only difference is that we were all alone and already really close." He blushed at the memory.

Mirajane frowned in confusion and then she blushed too as she realized what must've happened. "Oh!" She looked away, "I see…so you and her…"

"Ultear too," Oby declared bashfully. Then he blushed utterly crimson, "But don't go thinking I'm some hopeless womanizer! If we hadn't had to go our separate ways I would never have left either of them! I don't even think about asking a girl out if I'm not prepared to keep her!" Then he went pale as he realized what he had just said and Mirajane blushed.

There was an awkward silence as Oby broke out in a nervous sweat and then Mirajane handed him her ice cream, "Hold this." Oby warily accepted it and then Mira's hands were on either side of his face and she leaned in, "So I get to keep you all to myself if I want? Forever?" Oby smiled, "As long as you want me! I don't leave until I'm asked to." "Even if Ultear and Sorano were to come back?" Mirajane asked quietly.

Oby blinked and then grinned in a teasing manner, "Dunno. I'm gonna need another kiss to decide on that one." Mirajane considered slapping him for a brief second and then decided to blow his mind instead. She pulled him into the hottest steamiest kiss she could muster. It was not a short kiss.

When they finally came up for air, Oby was breathless and Mirajane grinned playfully at him, "So, what do you think?" Oby handed her back her ice cream and told her flatly, "hold this." Mirajane accepted it, seriously worried she had messed up and then Oby lifted her in a bridal carry and held her very close as he leaned close to her with an almost predatory grin, "I did mention that I'm a quarter dragon right? You know what dragons do with beautiful maidens right?" Mirajane blushed and then a grin broke out over her face, "Why don't you show me, Mr. Dragon?"

==Meanwhile==

Natsu crossed his arms and frowned, straining his brain. Finally he gave up, "Hey Lisanna, what _do_ dragons do with beautiful maids? Igneel never mentioned anything about it."

Lisanna blinked at him and then grinned mischievously, "How about _I_ show _you_ , Mr. Dragon?"

Natsu smiled, completely missing the mischief in Lisanna's grin, "Yeah! Do you think you can?" Then he frowned, "Wait, does that mean I have to dress up in a maid costu-?!"

Lisanna pulled back from the gentle kiss a moment later, still grinning mischievously, "No, but if you ask me nicely I might wear one for you."

Natsu blushed as pink as his hair and Happy giggled, "You _liiike_ each other…"

"Very much," Lisanna told him with a grin, "Now Happy, why don't you go play with Gildarts for a little bit while I help Natsu practice what dragons do with beautiful maidens."

Happy looked momentarily mortified and then he zoomed away as fast as he could. Lisanna turned back to Natsu smiling and was startled as she found Natsu extremely close to her. Natsu was staring at her very intensely and she suddenly felt very awkward. She tried to back up, but Natsu caught her and held her close. "N-Natsu," Lisanna stammered, "Is everything okay? You look, really intense. It's kinda scaring me."

Natsu frowned, then he grinned, "You started it." Lisanna blushed as pink as Natsu's hair and then Natsu kissed her and she decided she didn't really mind that it was intense.

==At The Guild Hall==

Makarov folded his fingers in front of his face at his desk and then glanced up at Gildarts and Laxus, "I don't suppose I have to tell you that I'm very suspicious of Oby. Even with him being Master Precht's apprentice, the fact that he is here at the recommendation of the Council concerns me."

"So you want us to go and see what we can dig up about him, right?" Laxus asked with a raised eyebrow. Makarov nodded, "Yes, but be quiet about it. If he's here to spy for the council then there's no telling how many of the council's eyes and ears across the countryside he may have access to."

"But if he's here as a spy then he wouldn't have just outright told us he was friends with the Council right?" Gildarts asked, "And beyond that, why not just call Mr. Yajima? He'd tell it to ya straight right?"

Makarov frowned, "I probably should now that you mention it." He pulled his contact lacrima from within his pocket and quickly connected it through to his old friend Mr. Yajima.

Yajima raised an eyebrow at him as his face settled into place in the crystal ball, "I was wondering when you'd call Maky. I guess that monster Oberon finally made it to you?"

"Monster?" Makarov asked with a frown.

"I hardly know what else to call him," Yajima declared bluntly, "He's been the source of as much destruction and mayhem over the last few years as any dark guild. He's got some kind of vendetta against demons from the Books of Zeref, and he's been attacking them wherever he finds them. Beyond that, he's made a fearsome and dedicated enemy out of the Dark Guild Tartaros, which is supposedly comprised of nothing _but_ Zeref's demons. Normally I'd call that a good thing, but he's so reckless! His fights with the demons have leveled entire cities in the east." Yajima sighed, "He's no doubt saved countless lives, but he's put so many in danger that the council had no choice but to order him to join a guild in the hopes that it could help reign him in."

Makarov frowned, "How strong is he?" "He was one of the candidates for the Ten Wizard Saints when Siegrain was given the title," Yajima declared bluntly, "Siegrain only got it because of the amount of collateral damage Oberon's caused." "He's that powerful?" Makarov asked in mild shock.

"I'd say you've got an edge on him for now Maky," Yajima hedged, "And I know you're thinking he's some kind of spy for the Council, but if he is then I haven't been told about it. He's old friends with Siegrain and Ultear, and good intentions aside I'm pretty sure that's the only reason he's not a wanted man. Please see if you can reign him in."

Makarov nodded, "Of course. Also, I learned something interesting from Master Mavis."

Yajima raised an eyebrow, "Go ahead."

"Apparently Oby was Master Precht's apprentice after Precht disappeared," Makarov said quietly, "Knowing that, I can't in good conscience refuse him a place in Fairy Tail. I will be keeping an eye on him though."

Yajima nodded, "Good, that boy's heart is in the right place, but he needs a guild to back him up. Thank you Maky."

==The Next Morning==

Mirajane woke up feeling very refreshed and like she was on a cloud. A perfect happy wonderful cloud of sheer undiluted _bliss._ She almost purred as she snuggled a little more into the warm chest beneath her without opening her eyes.

The bliss immediately shattered like a popped bubble as she felt another body roll over half on top of her...a body with very large breasts.

Mirajane sat bolt upright and saw a stunningly beautiful and very much _naked_ girl in the bed with her head on Oby's shoulder and a pair of disorientingly golden eyes peering up at her from beneath a head full of purple hair as Oby blinked blearily in confusion, still probably nine tenths asleep. Oby looked at Mira, looked at the purple haired girl. He blinked and then slurred out, "Oh there you are Blair…Blair, this is Mirajane. Mirajane, this is Blair. Sorry Mira, should've… ah," he yawned, "should've warned you, Blair likes to sleep in the nude…zzz…"

Blair apparently woke up a lot quicker than Oby because she registered Mira's stunned expression warping into a furious visage of pure _hate_ well worthy of her title as a She-Devil. Blair disappeared out the window so fast she left a faint after image of herself. Oby smiled moronically in his sleep. Mirajane slapped Oby awake, leapt off the bed, before he could register what was happening, Mirajane ripped the sheets off, tied him up in them so that it looked like a big white trash bag and proceeded to fling the entire parcel out the window with an ungodly screech of " **GET! OUT!** "

Mirajane stormed out of her room, down the hallway to the linen closet, and snatched out some fresh sheets. She stormed back to her room, remade the bed neatly and then flopped down on it, still in her night gown. She looked at the pillow in her hands and then buried her face in it and screamed as the tears started pouring.

Then Oby's arms wrapped around her and his bare chest pressed into her back as he whispered, "Hey…I'm sorry. I should've told you more about my cat."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES YOUR CAT HAVE TO DO WITH IT?!" Mira demanded.

Oby's grip tightened on her slightly, "Well, she's a _magic_ cat that likes to take human form and doesn't understand privacy or human intimacy. So for example she likes to crawl into bed with me and usually forgets to turn back into a cat, and if me and you are naked, she thinks she should be too. That's why she was in bed with us naked."

"You're telling me," Mira growled, "That the smoking hot girl with the purple hair was a _cat._ "

Then four light weights landed in her lap and a female voice sounded from the feline head rubbing against the back of her hand, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that. Oby's never had a girlfriend that hadn't met me before."

Mirajane looked over the top of the pillow and saw a black cat with a witch hat and golden eyes that she immediately recognized. The cat smiled at her, "Can we be friends? I promise I've never looked at Oby that way, we really are just friends. It would be totally awkward if we were more, he looks more like something I'd eat than something I'd have kittens with…Oh shut it Takoyaki, you know you do!"

Oby growled at being called "takoyaki" and Mirajane frowned in confusion, "Taco…yucky?"

"Takoyaki, octopus fritters," Oby clarified, "She's mocking my combat form."

Mirajane looked over her shoulder at him, anger forgotten in face of her curiosity, "Combat form?"

Oby grimaced, "I'm surprised you can't sense it. You're not the only one with some demon in them." He sighed, "The thing about slayer magics, is that without the proper protections, they slowly turn you _into_ whatever you're supposed to be slaying. Dragon Slayers turn into partial dragons, Devil Slayers become demonic, and God Slayers eventually gain a bit of divinity about them. Overuse a slayer magic, and you can transform completely."

He grimaced, "I've _vastly_ overused all three of them, but especially my Devil Slayer magic because I've fought so many demons. Now I'm part-Etherious myself, and I can assume a demonic form when I need to fight. It's a little like your Satan Soul, except I only get one, and in exchange for being probably more powerful, it actually _can_ warp my personality if I ever start to lose myself."

Mirajane's eyes widened as Oby continued with a small grimace, "The other difference, is that while your Satan Soul makes you look undeniably sexy, my Etherious form is well…hideous."

Mirajane turned on the bed and caught his jaw with her fingertips as she ordered softly, "Show me."

Oby looked slightly taken aback and then he closed his eyes and slowly began to transform. His hair lengthened and horns slowly sprouted out through his forehead, growing out almost two inches forward before curling upward like those of a goat. His mouth widened although his lips didn't so that it looked like he had gruesome scars making a mockery of a smile on his face. His ears stretched and became pointed as his skin faded to an unearthly ghost white.

Scales started to spread across his torso and shoulders like armor as something began to flow down from his back. He was wearing nothing but shorts so Mira could see the powerful whip like tail that ended in a forked barb stretch into existence and then wrap around him, and his legs became thicker and covered in silvery scales that shone faintly purple in the light.

"You see?" Oby asked quietly as he cracked his eyes and revealed that they glowed with an eerie green light, "Octopus." Then he waved the things that had come out of his back and Mira realized that they were tentacles, thin as fingers, but she had no doubt that they were just as strong as his arms and a lot more flexible.

Then he frowned and directed his gaze down to one of his tentacles as he raised it and showed Mirajane that Blair the cat was happily chewing on it. Oby cleared his throat slightly and Blair seemed to remember what it was she was chewing on. Her eyes popped wide open and she shivered slightly as Oby turned her around to meet his glowing green glare. "Blair," Oby rumbled, "What have we discussed about chewing my tentacles?"

"But they're so yummyyy!" Blair whined around the tentacle in her mouth. "It. _Hurts._ Blair." Oby ground out, "You _know_ how sensitive they are!"

He winced as Blair calmly dug her teeth in a little deeper with a fearsome look in her eye. Then Blair's voice seemed to echo in Mirajane's mind, _This is payback for almost_ _ **torching**_ _me you stupid demon._

Oby's eyes were mere inches from hers as he snarled aloud, "You very nearly cost me a fantastic opportunity for happiness. A chance to have someone to care about and who cared about me! Don't pretend you didn't sense how upset she was!"

 _Oh like you didn't know it the instant I crawled into bed! Maybe you should've been thinking about it THEN instead of after she threw us out the window!_ Blair snapped back as her hackles started to rise.

Oby growled and Mirajane suddenly got a good look at just how many teeth were in his enormous mouth, " _Watch it little kitty."_

 _Takoyaki!_

 _"_ _Witch!"_

 ** _Slithery bone gnawing heretic!_**

 ** _"_** ** _Rotten furball!"_**

They continued to exchange insults for almost two minutes. By the third minute, they climbed out the window to take the fight outside. By four minutes, Mirajane was watching in shock as the two went utterly _wild_ in an all-out, knock-down, drag-out brawl worthy of her fights with Erza or one of Natsu and Gray's when they were using their magic. Despite being in the form of a cat, Blair was still able to flick cobblestones up out of the street and fling them like cannonballs with her magic, and having such a tiny form made her immensely difficult to hit. Oby's hands and tentacles were an utter _blur_ as he smashed the stone projectiles to pieces and hurled fireballs back.

Suddenly he leapt skyward and the remains of the cobblestones Blair had shot at him rose after him. Oby clapped his hands together and the cloud of pebbles hovering around him rocketed down like a hailstorm of bullets. Blair was a streak of black fur narrowly outstripping the almost invisibly fast torrent of destruction that was pounding the street to powder in an attempt to annihilate her.

Then Oby ran out of rocks. Blair turned back into her human form grinning with vicious excitement, now dressed in a black witch's outfit, and started firing massive jack'o'lantern shaped projectiles, several of which exploded. Oby countered with miniature versions of every natural disaster Mirajane could think of. Through it all, they never stopped shouting insults at each other.

Within seven minutes, the entire street had been reduced to a smoldering ruin pockmarked with craters and Oby had Blair tangled in his tentacles and dangling upside down. "Say it," Oby ordered smugly as he poked her cheek with a cheeky grin. Blair shook her head and tried wiggle free. Oby zapped her lightly, "Saaay it."

Blair whined and then, "Oh fine! You win! I'll cook breakfast!"

There was a stretch of stunned silence and then Mira shouted out the window, "THAT'S HOW YOU TWO DECIDE WHO'LL COOK BREAKFAST?!"

"Well we both hate doing the dishes even though we're both really good at cooking," Oby explained, "And since I won, now you get to have Blair's wonderful fluffy pancakes instead of my lousy bacon, eggs and toast."

Blair wriggled angrily, "Gaaah! I wish I had never made you pancakes! I should've just thrown a fish at you, but _nooooo_ you _had_ to go and catch the _common cold!_ The _ONE THING_ that even magic can't fix! Of all the stupid things to render you as harmless as a newborn kitten! And don't try to tell her you're not good at breakfast! His bacon and eggs are _to die for!_ " Blair shouted up at Mirajane, "And don't even get me started on his _biscuits!"_

Oby lifted her up so that their eyes met, "Oh quit trying to divert attention from the fact that _you_ make the best pancakes in Ishgar!"

" _FLATTERY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE!"_ Blair screeched.

Natsu rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he, Lisanna and Elfman peered out the windows next to and above Mirajane's. Natsu looked over at Mirajane, "Geeze Mira, your new boyfriend and his sister are such weirdos…"

"DON'T CALL ME WEIRD YA WEIRDO!" Oby and Blair chorused indignantly.

It was right about then that Mirajane realized Natsu was in Lisanna's room. She went ghostly pale and then beet red, "NATSU DRAGNEEEEEL!" she howled, " **WHAT THE** ** _HELL_** **ARE YOU DOING IN MY LITTLE SISTER'S ROOM?!** "

"Same thing you were in yours," Natsu replied bluntly, completely oblivious to Lisanna and Elfman's horror.

Steam erupted from Mirajane's ears as her expression went from furious to utterly _MURDEROUS_. Then a wicked grin spread across her face, "Oby, I will _totally forgive you and Blair_ for scaring me this morning if you get that pink haired fire breather away from my little sister!"

Natsu and Lisanna had an instant of horror as Mirajane's words registered with them and then Natsu was tied up in Oby's tentacles and being ripped out the window and down to the street. It was by no stretch of the imagination a gentle landing. Oby didn't give Natsu time to recover. Even as Natsu was registering the pain of smashing face first into the street, he was yanked sideways as Oby started to spin. In seconds, Oby and Natsu were spinning so fast that Oby looked like a white tornado with a pink ring around it. Then Oby let go and Natsu went flying like a shot from a cannon.

==A Minute Later==

Natsu crashed face first through the roof of Gildarts' shack. Gildarts barely even woke up as he punched the pink haired dragon slayer in the face. "Sneak attacks won't work kid…" he mumbled before rolling over and going back to sleep. Natsu lay on the floor, struggling to remain conscious. A few moments later Natsu managed to pick himself up nursing a broken nose, "Aw man…That hurt…"

As he let himself out and started staggering back towards the guild hall he wondered what exactly had possessed him to get caught in Lisanna's room. Then he remembered the night before and his bloodied face split into a huge grin, _Oh yeah…TOTALLY worth it!_

==Later==

It had taken twenty minutes of shouting, arguing and protesting on Lisanna's behalf to convince Mirajane that she was telling the truth that she and Natsu had only made out and cuddled. Lisanna was beet red as she and Mirajane sat down at the breakfast table. Oby, Blair and Elfman weren't entirely sure what Mirajane had done, but Oby and Blair had very sharp ears and a pretty good guess.

Oby served Lisanna a double plate of pancakes along with a plate of bacon and eggs. Despite the brawl he and Blair had had about who would cook breakfast, Oby had wound up cooking as well on the grounds that Mirajane was his girlfriend and he should be cooking her a morning-after meal as a thank you. Given what he had overheard from the room Mirajane and Lisanna had locked themselves into to hash out the events of the night before, he was pretty sure that Lisanna needed some spare fortitude.

Now they sat in uncomfortable silence as Mirajane read the newspaper and Lisanna sulked and tried to quell the blush that was still coloring her hair crimson. Oby sighed five minutes later as he finished his plates of food and saw that Mirajane and Lisanna still had yet to even touch their food. "You know," Oby said calmly, trying very hard to keep his frustration that they weren't eating out of his voice, "The food tastes better fresh."

Mirajane and Lisanna immediately took bites of the food before them without even really paying attention. It took about five seconds for them to register the taste. Then their eyes popped wide open as they both froze. Mirajane lowered the paper and looked at Oby flatly, "You. Me. Bed. NOW."

Lisanna closed her mouth looking slightly frustrated as Mira laid down the paper, picked up her plate in one hand and caught Oby's in the other. Instead she turned to Blair with her cutest smile, "Pretty please will you teach Natsu how to cook like this? I totally want Natsu to be able to fix _me_ breakfast like this for mornings after. In fact," she added thoughtfully, "Can you get Oby to teach Natsu how to be as good of a boyfriend as he is?"

Blair blinked in confusion and then started to howl with laughter.

==That Afternoon==

Oby plonked down across the table from Natsu and Lisanna and pushed drinks across to them, "Hey Natsu, sorry about this morning."

Natsu accepted the drink, "Eh, it's alright. I would've done the same thing to you if Lisanna had asked me to."

Oby grinned, "I'd imagine so. Also, I feel like I should warn you not to tell Mira that you and Lisanna did what me and Mira did. There's a rather significant difference and while I wouldn't begrudge the two of you that, it is Mira's job as a big sister to ensure Lisanna's virtue."

Natsu frowned in confusion as Lisanna blushed, "Huh? What's virtue?"

Oby sighed, "Okay, gimme a minute. I'm gonna upload some knowledge into your head with my Archive magic. It'll be a lot easier and less awkward than explaining. Just don't squirm around too much and this shouldn't do anything but maybe tickle." Natsu looked around curiously as a cloud of little purple bars appeared all around his head and began to slowly fade to gold. It _did_ tickle his head, but he could feel information literally _pouring_ in, so he was too curious to fidget much.

Then it all finished clicking into place and Natsu's jaw dropped as he realized how much more he knew. "HOLY CRAP THAT'S LIKE THE BEST STUFF EVER! THANKS OBY!" He leapt up, "I gotta go get some flowers! Come on Happy!"

Happy flew after him with a fish in his mouth as he mumbled an energetic shout of "Aye sir!"

Lisanna frowned and then her eyebrows went up as she realized what Natsu had just said. Her gaze snapped over to Oby who just shrugged with a small smile, "Consider it my apology for chucking him out this morning. Blair passed your request along, and you two _do_ make a cute pair." He smirked, "Besides, this way, I can keep Mira happy by ensuring that you've got a boyfriend who'll treat you as well as I will her. Natsu knows everything I do about how to treat a lady now, and I learned from the best." His expression fell slightly, "I just hope he doesn't pick up Sir Ichiya's bad habits…"

"SIR ICHIYA?!" Mirajane exclaimed from right behind him in horror, "You learned from _that_ creep?!"

Oby sighed and pulled out a chair for her with his magic, "Yes. Creep though he may be, he is undoubtedly a _master_ of etiquette and other such high society frivolities. While I have very little patience for such things, I can acknowledge their purpose and importance. Also, if it makes you smile Mira, then it's worth every second of the mind crushingly dull training. Likewise, even though Ichiya may not be the best with women in practice, he has all the knowledge of how-to up there in that disproportionately large head of his. Every member of Blue Pegasus does, and with the telepathy I picked up from my buddy Erik, I was able to copy every shred of knowledge on how to be a perfect gentleman they had by hanging out at their guild hall for a few weeks. Even more importantly, I was able to figure out how to be a good boyfriend."

Mirajane sat down next to him, "Do I even want to know why you went and did all that?"

Oby shrugged, "Sorano had just broken up with me. I was bummed out, couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong, so I went and tried to find out."

"And what was it?" Mirajane asked with a small smirk.

Oby drained his drink in go and thumped the tankard down on the table in frustration, "I _STILL_ don't know! I just woke up one morning and all seven of them were gone! Sorano and the whole troop! Just, _poof!_ Sorano left me a note saying she was sorry but she had to go, and that's the last I've heard from or of her or any of them since. _"_ He sighed and after a moment with a small rueful grin declared, "whatever it was that I did or didn't do that made Sorano leave, I promise that I'll try my very best to not make the same mistake with you Mira." He turned the kindest most honest smile he could on her, "I really do want to stay with you ya know?"

Mirajane smiled and Lisanna noted that for the first time since Mira had adopted her "She-Devil" persona, her hair was down in public. "Keep being sweet like this," Mira told him softly with a smile, "And I don't think we'll have any problems at all."

==Meanwhile, Near the West Coast of Fiore==

Erza panted in exhaustion and pain. The foes seemed endless, and worse, their teamwork was _flawless_. The job had seemed simple, go to the town, fight the monsters. She fought monsters all the time. It wasn't even an S-Class quest, it shouldn't be that difficult right? That's what she'd thought.

Now though, faced with a seemingly endless hoard of savage rabbit demons the size of bears who her blades slipped right off of, and one female demon who was taking a disproportionate amount of pleasure in shutting down her senses one by one and increasing her sense of pain a little with every strike while she lounged nearby and called out insults. To make matters worse, the damned rabbits were _spinning_ and she was certain their master had done something to her sense of balance because the way the accursed rabbits were spinning was starting to make her dizzy and sick to her stomach just watching them.

"I don't know why Lady Melinoe wanted your head so badly, or why she seemed so wary of you," Kyoka called, "But Lord Mard Geer has ordered it as well, so we'll be taking it." Then she flicked a pebble like a bullet and despite it only grazing her, Erza felt like half her face had been ground off in an instant. She staggered in pain and was opened up to a barrage of attacks from the damned demon rabbits, each more painful than the last. Erza panted and cast a glare at the demons facing her as she finally managed to get some breathing room. It had been mortifying to learn that the entire job had been a set up specifically designed to ensnare _her_ and that the demons had been stalking her since she arrived in town. Now, after being unable to sleep properly for days or sate her hunger and thirst due to what she now knew was the lead demon's curse, she was far weaker than she normally was. Still though…

"Heaven's Wheel," she ground out, requipping into her best "crowd control" armor. She hissed as the armor chaffed against her skin in places it normally didn't with a feel like rough stone and concrete grating against her skin weighing her down rather than the usual lightness of the perfectly tailored and smooth metal. She summoned a volley of swords, "So you like to spin huh? I can do that too." She set her blades spinning around her in a ring of death and dashed forward towards the demon that was messing with her senses. _If I can just get rid of these handicaps I can handle the rabbits no problem!_

Then Kyoka grinned, "Oh my, getting bold are we?" She snapped her fingers and Erza felt horror wash over her as her sense of balance collapsed altogether, _If I hit the ground they'll pile on and have me!_

Then just as she was about to hit the ground face first, the world seemed to shift around her. The sudden sensation of movement was too much for her weakened stomach and she shamelessly vomited. "Ew…" a voice declared from right next to her as Erza vaguely realized that someone was holding her upright, "You alright sis?"

 _SIS?!_ She glanced up at her rescuer and with her sense of sight weakened to the point where everything was just blurs, all she could make out was a head full of blonde hair. "You just wait here," the woman that had called her sister instructed as she leaned Erza against a tree, "Let Big Sis handle this one, 'kay? Don't worry, this'll only take a minute."

Erza could only nod in numb shock and then the sounds of lethally hard impacts turning demon bunnies into explosions of gore started sounding with incredible speed. She stared, straining her weakened sight to get a glimpse of her rescuer as what she was sure were the demon bunnies turned into a cloud of red as her rescuer roared, "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY LITTLE SISTER?!"

Then the lead demoness started screaming in pain and Erza was suddenly very glad that she couldn't see what was happening.


	6. Chapter 3: Oby's Magic

Chapter 3: Oby's Magic

==And then…==

Erza gasped as her sight suddenly returned and revealed the blonde figure that had saved her to be a pretty young woman only a few years older than her. "Hey," she smiled, "You feelin' better now?" Erza nodded and the blonde woman offered her a bottle of water, "Drink up. You look exhausted." Erza accepted the bottle and drank, never taking her eyes from her savior.

When her thirst was quenched she asked quietly, "You're…my big sister?"

The blonde girl nodded with a bright smile, "Yep! Dimaria Belserion! I'm adopted, but I've been helping Mom comb Alvarez searching for you for over a year now. We came over here and started searching when a smuggler from Fiore mentioned you. He saw Mom and freaked out because he thought she was you."

Erza's heart skipped a beat in its rapid hammering, "What's she like? Does she look like me? Is she here?"

Dimaria smiled kindly, "She's the nicest person in the world, and yeah, I didn't even have to ask who you were. You look _exactly_ like her but younger. Just to check though," she added with a teasing grin, "You _are_ Erza Belserion right?"

Erza nodded as a stunned smile started to spread across her face, "Yeah…yeah I am!"

Dimaria smiled, "Well then, as for Mom being here…" She clicked her teeth and suddenly a red haired woman appeared behind her and Dimaria shifted to the side, "She is now!"

Erza only had a moment to stare at the shocking likeness to herself before she was wrapped in a hug. "You're okay…" Irene whispered, "I'm so sorry, so sorry, I'll never let anyone hurt you or take you away from me ever again!"

"Take me away?" Erza asked in a quiet quavering voice.

Irene nodded into Erza's shoulder as her grip tightened slightly, "Yes. The day you were born, two wizards helped me bring you into the world. They didn't realize at the time that I was under a terrible curse, but when they realized it, the younger wizard broke the curse, but it made him pass out from exhaustion and then the old wizard took him and you and vanished before I could recover enough to stop him." Erza felt something warm and wet begin to soak into her hair as Irene said quietly, "I've spent every day since then searching for you."

That did it. On came the water works. Dimaria looked away with a small smile to spare her little sister's dignity.

Then she tensed as all of Erza's heartache and turmoil began to pour out. Dimaria felt angrier than she had in a very very long time. _Whoever is responsible for this is going to DIE,_ she thought with an exceptional degree of rage.

==That Evening==

Oby looked around at the utterly wrecked guild hall, his battered, bruised and largely unconscious guildmates, and his panting and slightly bloodied girlfriend as she leaned into his shoulder. He looked over at Master Makarov, who was drinking straight from the keg in his giant sized right hand. "Is it _always_ like this?"

"Yeees!" Makarov wailed, "And they're like this on jobs too! They destroy everything! The Magic Council sends us so many complaints, and the repair bills destroy our budget! We have to use our magic for lights because we can't pay for electricity after the damages! We can only afford booze and food because I'd have a riot on my hands if we didn't! Poor little Laki's always exhausted because her Wood Make Magic can't hold up against these hooligans and I'm more familiar with building repairs than I ever wanted to be! BWAHAHAAAAA!"

Oby winced as the master sobbed, "Ooh. Ah, yeah, I'm starting to see why Master Bob thought I should come by. That sounds like the kind of mess that follows _me_ around…"

Makarov looked at him in horror, "Not you too…I can barely handle _one_ rambunctious super destructive slayer, and Natsu's nowhere near as strong as you are!"

Oby smiled, "Sorry, can't help it. My fights tend to get a _lot_ out of control. However," he added with a small grin, "I did learn some very interesting magic a few years back. If everyone'll leave for the evening, you'll get to see the results in the morning."

Makarov glanced at him, not quite daring to be hopeful about it, "Oh?"

"Yeah," Oby declared with an excited grin that was far too reminiscent of Natsu's. Makarov nearly had a heart attack as he noticed the resemblance. Oby frowned and a finger snapped to Makarov's chest, laced with his healing magic, "Master…your heart is in _really_ bad shape. Would you mind if I use my magic to repair it?"

Makarov's eyebrows rose in confusion, "Um, go ahead?" Everything flashed black for an instant and then Makarov exhaled in shock as energy flooded his system. He leapt bolt upright, "What the hell was that? I feel thirty years younger!"

Oby raised an eyebrow with a small smile, "Well _yeah_ , I just healed your internal organs to a state comparable to what they were in your prime, so that makes sense."

"THIS IS AMAZING! I CAN BE A HEAVYWEIGHT AGAIN!" Makarov exclaimed delightedly, "CANA! WAKE UP GIRL WE'RE HAVING A DRINKING CONTEST!"

Cana snapped upright out of her hangover and pointed a finger at Makarov, "YOU'RE ON!" Oby couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't really _really_ too young for that, but then again, he had already known for a while that Fairy Tail played by its own rules…

==Two Years Earlier, Year X780==

Oby leaned against the seat of the booth Ultear was sitting in with a grin. The blue haired guy sitting across from her with the red markings around his eye noticed him first, "Hello, can we help you?"

Oby's grin widened, "Oh I dunno…Does my first girlfriend remember her old flame?"

Ultear froze in surprise and then whirled, "Oby?!" A huge smile spread across her face, "OBY!" She leapt up and gave him a hug, "I can't believe you're here! How've you been? Where've you been? Did you hear the news?"

Oby chuckled into her hair, "Other than missing you I've been fine, _Councilwoman_ Ultear. I'm so proud of you…" he whispered as he hugged her tighter. It was then that Ultear realized she was less than jaw high on Oby and leaned back to look up at him with a surprised smile, "When did you get so tall? The last time I saw you, you were barely eyebrows high on me!" Her hands roved over his chest, "And you're _buff._ When did you get buff?"

Oby shrugged nonchalantly, "Go scrap with demons on a weekly basis as you wander around the world for three years. You get very strong, very fast. What about you?" He grinned, "You've been busy eh? I didn't know you could join the Magic Council so young!"

Ultear pouted, "I'm eighteen you know!"

"She's still the youngest member the Council has ever had," the blue haired guy declared with a smile, "We're all quite proud of her."

Oby looked at him and an eyebrow went up, then it went back down as he examined the blue haired guy. A small smile spread across his face, "And you'd be Jellal I'm guessing?"

The blue haired mage froze like he had been blasted with ice magic, "How do you know that name?"

Ultear cleared her throat, "Oby, this is Jellal's twin brother Siegrain. He hasn't seen his brother in over ten years." Oby looked up and scratched his head, "I didn't know Jellal had a brother…Oh well, he had taken one hell of a knock to the head when I met him…"

"Is he alright?" Siegrain asked, his voice full of concern.

"Pfft…" Oby grinned with a dismissive wave, "Of course he's alright! If I find somebody hurt I heal them. So you're from Edolas huh? What's it like there? Jellal was pretty quiet about it, always tried to change the subject whenever it came up." His wide smile faded when he noticed Siegrain looking completely clueless.

Oby nodded, "Ah I see, you're _Earthland_ Jellal's brother. That makes sense. Sorry, got your brother confused with his Edolas counterpart."

Ultear tapped his chest, "Details Oby. What's an Edolas." It wasn't a question Oby knew, it was Ultear's 'cough up some information or I ice your butt' tone.

"Parallel universe according to Jellal," Oby replied, "Apparently everyone's got an exact double over there with different personalities. They haven't got any caster type wizards and they've got a terrible shortage of magic power. That's about all I was able to get out of him. I helped him close the hole in the sky that he fell out of, but I couldn't wrangle any details out of him about why it was important. He almost wet himself when he saw me. Couldn't get much out of him about it but I guess my Edolas counterpart isn't very friendly. Jellal was alright though, so I didn't press the issue." Then he paused with a thoughtful expression, "I wonder how little Wendy's doing…I should go check on her sometime…"

He shook his head like a dog shaking off water, "Anyway, beside the point! I want to hear about you," He gave Ultear a gentle squeeze, "How've you been? You made the Magic Council at record breaking age right? Tell me about it!"

"Alright, but first let's sit down, we're blocking the aisle," Ultear smiled. Oby looked over his shoulder at the bemused looking waitress behind him, then slid to the side of the aisle with Ultear to allow her past.

After sliding into the booth and a few moments of explanation about how Ultear had joined and quickly worked her way to the top with her Arc of Time magic before getting the final boost to the council itself with a leg up from Siegrain, she and Siegrain got into detailing the latest scandal from Fiore's magical community.

"So Belno decides that the unruliest little monsters in all of Fiore are Fairy Tail," Siegrain declared with a grin, "And that the best way to make them stop destroying things, seriously, they've racked up a few million in damages _just this year_ , is to make them all learn _etiquette._ " He and Ultear did their level best to cover their sniggers and then Siegrain continued, "So, these kids, they're _all_ utterly insane. That one kid, Elfman I think, he's pretty mellow, and his little sister doesn't do much, but they're both always with their big sister who's earned the title "She-Devil" because she's so destructive and vicious. I guess all the crazy in that family landed with her."

"There's one that's a dragon slayer, he burned down half a village a few months back," Ultear declared. "That little ice mage stripper that you tense up whenever anyone mentions him that's always fighting with the dragon slayer," Siegrain added, pointedly ignoring the sharp look Ultear shot him as he continued, "Then you've got the little blue haired girl that traumatized an entire gang of bandits three times her size because, get this, _they messed up a book in front of her_."

"Then there's that crazy red head that tried to kill you on sight in front of the council a few months ago," Ultear added, "She's one of the most destructive of the bunch, right up there with that zap happy lunatic Laxus."

Siegrain winced, "Yeah, she's nuts. I think she muttered something to Makarov about Jellal. I don't know what my brother did but," he shuddered slightly, " _yikes."_

Oby sniggered at the expression on his face, "And they tried to teach said little monsters _etiquette?"_

Ultear nodded with a smile, "I wasn't there, but I heard from one of the guard detail that it's the reason why Grimholdt retired this year. Everyone thought it had worked, their etiquette teacher even set up a tea party with the Council at this fancy tea house, and when Fairy Tail showed up, _nobody recognized them!_ "

"I didn't go because I didn't want to deal with the redhead trying to kill me again, but I heard they were all wearing suits and dresses and perfectly behaved and quiet," Siegrain explained with a grin, "Acting like proper ladies and gentlemen, all 'Yes ma'am' and 'I'm afraid not sir", just the very picture of well behaved young people. It was like they were from Blue Pegasus instead of Fairy Tail! _Then_ halfway through tea, a dark guild busts in because the Council left most of their guard detail at base and takes all the Council members and Fairy Tail's Master Makarov hostage. The kids didn't do anything because it would be too _impolite!"_

Oby started laughing as Ultear picked up the story, "So then the Council's _begging_ them to help because clearly the dark guild has no idea who they are, and finally Belno promises to never ever make them take etiquette classes again if they'll help."

"So Laxus, he was apparently the ring leader. He finishes his little finger sandwich, okay? He wipes his mouth off with a napkin. He folds it up and sets it down, and then he grins and says something and it's like a _switch_ goes off in the little monsters' heads," Siegrain continued with a growing grin as he mimicked Laxus's actions, "The dragon slayer lets loose this just _insane_ laugh, and the ice kid just _flings_ his clothes off, his underwear landed on Org's head! Then suddenly the _dark wizards_ are the ones screaming for help because the little monsters are just _tearing them apart!_ "

Ultear immediately began cackling, "Did it really? You hadn't told me about the underwear on Org's head!" If Ultear had had more room in the booth, she would've been rolling around as she clutched her gut laughing at the thought of the stuffy old wizard watching Fairy Tail's unruliest young mages go wild with Gray Fullbuster's boxers on his head. Oby smiled, it was good to see Ultear laughing.

Siegrain and Ultear continued to regale him with stories of Fairy Tail's shenanigans for almost an hour before they decided it was time to head on home. Oby had wound up staying the night with Ultear and that day would forever more be one of his most cherished memories.

==Present==

Oby smiled as the Strauss siblings left and waved goodbye, "See you in the morning!" Mirajane told Lisanna and Elfman to go on and then ran back up the steps to give Oby a goodnight kiss which he very enthusiastically returned. He held her in his arms and smiled, "Go on Mira, I'll still be here in the morning." He gently kissed her on the forehead, "See you then."

Mirajane pouted up at him with a small smile, "Why don't you want anyone to see you work? I've already seen you fight in your heavy combat form. Is it anything like that?"

Oby smiled and shook his head, "No, no, it's related, but it's not my form I'm worried about. I really let loose when I'm all alone and it's a little embarrassing to go wild like that when people are watching, not to mention dangerous for anyone to be around me. Don't worry, I promise you aren't missing anything."

Mirajane's pout deepened slightly, "Oh fine, see you in the morning." Oby pulled her in for another kiss and then whispered in her ear, "I'll have a plate of pancakes with your name on it." Mirajane smiled and whispered back, "I'm thinking that red dress you picked out." Oby smiled and shook his head, "Mm-mmm, save that one for a special occasion, cause there's no way I'll be able to resist ravishing you in it. Maybe the black one? I'll be able to resist…maybe."

Mirajane leaned back and tapped a finger on his chest with a grin, " _You_ are a pervert, but maybe I'll wear that little black dress. See you in the morning." With one final quick peck on the lips she turned and ran to catch up with Elfman and Lisanna.

Oby walked back into the guild and closed the doors behind him before slumping to the ground with his back to the doors. He covered his eyes with his hands and started to shake. Whether he was laughing or crying, if it was a smile or a grimace, even he couldn't tell. "Grandpa…" he whispered when he finally took his hands away from his eyes, "I'm finally here."

A guilty look crossed his face, "I shouldn't…" He trembled slightly, "I really shouldn't…" Then a different expression eclipsed the guilt and he blazed with bone chilling purple power as the terrifying grin dominated his suddenly demonic features, " _BUT I WANT TO!_ _ **BLACK OUT! KYAHAHAHAHA!**_ _"_

If anyone had been trying to watch through the windows, they would've seen nothing but blackness as all light was suddenly sucked straight from the guild hall. They would've felt and heard though, the magic power flooding the building and the mad laughter echoing through the building before everything went deathly silent as Oby's magic silenced the building. Then the building started to quake as though a full on Fairy Tail brawl had erupted within.

As Mirajane glanced over her shoulder at the sudden eruption of magical power, she could've sworn she saw the building literally jump from its foundations as a particularly titanic impact rocked it from within. _What is he doing in there?_ Mirajane wondered. She didn't know it at the time, but she was very glad she didn't know.

==Half an Hour Later==

The ghostly pale demon paused as it tore apart the illusion of Mirajane Strauss in a horrible eruption of gore. It was still for a moment as it stood in the midst of an illusory blood bath. All around it were strewn illusions of Fairy Tail's corpses. A vicious smile spread literally from one of its ears to the other and it didn't turn as it spoke in a low voice overlaid with dozens more, "Master Makarov, I warned you to get everyone out didn't I? That included you."

"Is this your true intention Oby?" Makarov asked coldly as he glowed with magical power that dispersed the illusion around him, "The wholesale massacre of my children?" Makarov's face became a rictus of horror and rage as Oby turned a sick grin on him and began to giggle, "Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?!" Makarov demanded angrily.

Oby suddenly lifted the pale form of one Cana Alberona. The ghostly pale with terror, struggling vainly against the demon's grip with all her might, _panicking_ form of Cana Alberona. Makarov felt his heart seize in terror as the demon lifted a cruel talon to her throat, " ** _NOOO!_** _"_

There was a sound like tearing paper and then red as Cana's expression of terror turned to one of glazed over shock. So much red. So very _very_ much red. "I thought I told you," the demon declared softly with a mad glint in his eye, " _That red is my favorite color!_ "

Makarov snapped. He didn't even hesitate or issue his standard warning as he cast Fairy Law. All of Magnolia wondered at it as the great golden seal lit up the sky, and many wizards ran for their Guild Hall. By the time they arrived, Oby was standing unscathed as Makarov watched in horror while the illusions all disappeared.

Oby casually brushed a little dust off his shoulder and waved a hand nonchalantly with a small smile as he faded back to his human form, "I do apologize for that bit of unpleasantness Master. You would never have cast that spell on me if I hadn't tricked you." He patted Cana on the head, "And thank _you_ Cana for helping me sell it. I'll see to your wish first thing in the morning."

Cana scowled at him, "You didn't tell me it was going to be that horrible!"

"Can you think of a _better_ way to have made him freak out enough to bring out his trump card against me?" Oby asked dryly, "If it'll make you feel better I'll wipe your memory of it."

At this point Makarov about decided he'd had enough and he exploded, "ALRIGHT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! AND WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NOT DEAD?! I CAST FAIRY LAW WITH FULL INTENT TO KILL YOU!"

Oby smiled at him, "Yes, you cast it _perfectly_ and with maximum intent to obliterate me. That was the point of this little ruse and I must thank you ever so much for going along with it! Now that I have had a proper taste of Black Magic I can reverse engineer it in its entirety and I can say for sure now," he spread his hands with a victorious grin, " _that my magic can break down the curse of Ankhserahm and completely negate its effects! I can cure Master Mavis!_ "

Makarov stared, and silence reigned for a moment. Then, "What?"

Oby raised a hand to his lips and chuckled, "I'm sorry, I never properly introduced myself did I?" He turned to face the guild gathered in the doorway and suddenly erupted into his demon form as his magic manifested around him in a tremendous and terrifying aura that Cana immediately shied away from.

"I am Oberon Gaebolg," Oby declared in his thousand voices in one, "I am not human though I once was. I was reborn through the arts left behind by the Black Wizard Zeref as the demon Nemesis. I was reborn for the sole purpose of hunting down the demons from the books of Zeref, and bringing about an end to Zeref's immortal life. Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis Vermillion, was cursed with immortality the same way as Zeref. My inherent ability, the Curse of Countering, allows me to take any spell used against me, absorb and become immune to it, and gain a full and in depth understanding of it such that I can break it apart with ease. Now that I have sampled Fairy Law, all my goals are within my grasp. So, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Then he snapped his fingers and was gone. Before anyone could ask where he had gone, an eruption of magical pressure threatened to blow apart the floor beneath them.

==Five Minutes After Oby's Reveal==

Dimaria tensed as she felt a massive power surge bearing down on them from where she was sitting up stargazing. Then it blazed past and kept going. Dimaria frowned and pulled out a card, "Hey Invel-sensei? Grab Randi and Wall too if he's there. Get ready. Something huge just passed me and Mom heading west, if it's heading for Alvarez, then it'll take at least one of you to intercept it."

"Are you sure Dimaria?" Invel asked. "Positive," Dimaria replied, "I'm going to see if I can catch up to it. If you don't hear back from me in-" there was a crash on Invel's end and Invel actually _swore_. "I'll be right there."

Dimaria's wings erupted from her back and she snapped the Age Seal into place. An instant later for the world but half an hour for Dimaria, she arrived in the palace just in time to see Invel's ice magic frozen in time ("oh the irony," she thought) as he attempted to turn the snowy haired mage that had just blasted through the wall into a popsicle.

Dimaria blinked as she recognized the young wizard and then she grinned and pulled him out of the way of Invel's attack. She allowed time to restart right as she pulled Oby into her chest with a big mischievous grin as she squealed, "OBYYYYY! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE COMING TO VISIT!"

Oby snapped upright as Invel frowned, "Dimaria? Why are you here?" Dimaria made a dismissive sound, "I _live here_ silly!" Then she pouted, "Weren't you coming to visit?"

Oby blinked and then a lightbulb went on in his head as he remembered why he was there, "Actually, I was here to see the Emperor. I've finally managed to devise a cure for the curse afflicting him! Do you know where he is?"

A voice spoke from a nearby hallway, "Well, that's very interesting," Zeref declared as he strolled into the room. "I must confess," he admitted, "I never expected to see you again Nemesis. After last time, I thought I had ensured your book would never be found."

Oby turned to Zeref, "Now what kind of demon would I be if I could be sealed so easily as that?" He spread his hands, "If it makes you feel any better, I've absolutely no memory of this 'last time' you're talking about. All I know is that I'm from one of _your_ books, one of _your_ spells, and my innate purpose is to put an end to _your_ immortality and break the curse that Ankhserahm laid upon you. That purpose is one that I am about to fulfill." He raised a hand overhead and a massive magical seal erupted into being over him as tremendous power flooded the room, " _Demon God Slayer SECRET ART! ESCAPE FROM PURGATORY, DIVINE CLEMENCY!"_

==Ten Minutes Later==

Oby returned with a dark haired young man in black and white robes and shoved him at the very stunned and mildly flustered looking Mavis Vermillion. " _NOW KISS AND MAKE UP YOU TWO!"_

Zeref stumbled and landed right in Mavis's arms, accidentally doing a face plant in her near non-existent cleavage as he did. Mavis staggered under the weight and then Zeref looked up and their eyes met, " _ZEREF?"_ _"_ _MAVIS!"_

They started gabbling in unison, " _HOW ARE YOU-WELL I-_ oh I'm sorr-stop that!" They took a second to cast half hearted glares at each other and then Oby sighed.

" _OI! Lovey dovey teenagers! The demon in the room said kiss and make up!_ " he barked. Then he conjured a fireball with a fearsome expression, "Don't make me repeat myself again." Zeref and Mavis shot him identical glares and then turned back to each other and sighed as smiles crossed their faces. They leaned in and the whole guild began to cheer and cat call as was their wont.

The jeering and catcalling were broken up by Oby's cackling and fist pumping as he howled, "YEEEEEEEEEES! **I DID IT!** I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!" He threw his fists to the sky, and shouted, "YOU HEAR ME MARD GEER?! _I BEAT YOU TO IT!_ HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KISS MY BONE GNAWING HERETIC ASS YOU POMPOUS WINDBAAAG! WAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Then a clawed hand settled on his shoulder and Oby felt a chill run down his spine as a voice he was extremely fond of told him, "Hey, cackling _asshole_. The _SHE DEVIL_ in the room says _start talking._ NOW." The rest of the guild took a concerted step back as Oby turned to face Mirajane's Sitri form.

Oby blinked at her furious glare and was quiet for a moment and then a wild grin spread across his face, "Mira, _I'm gonna let my magic do the talking! SENSORY LINK!_ "

Mirajane punched him square in the jaw and then flinched as she felt something slam into her face like a balled up sock. Oby grinned, "Sensory link. Whatever I feel, _you feel_. Learned it from the most adorable little girl a while back. So…" He moved quicker than she could react and cupped her face in his hands as he allowed the affection he held for her to flood his mind, "What do you say? Can you forgive me for not wanting you to think less of me?"

Mirajane closed her eyes, leaned her forehead against his…and clenched her teeth. Oby only had a split second to clench his as well before Mira's fist slammed into his jaw with enough force to send him flying. "Whatever you wanted," Mirajane said quietly as she felt her jaw start to throb, "I can't ignore how used and betrayed I feel now that I know you lied to me about who and what you are. If you had just _told me_ I would've accepted it and probably laughed about it with you. Now that I know you lied to me about that, I can't trust you like I wanted to. I'm sure you can feel that and understand so I'm sorry Oby, it's over."

She felt his shock and the turmoil roll across the sensory link to mingle with the betrayal and hurt she was feeling. He felt bad, she knew it. Then she felt a sort of grim resignation settle over her from across the link as Oby pulled himself out of the wreckage of the table he had landed in.

"Probably for the best…" he muttered with a slightly dead look in his eyes as he dissolved the sensory link. He turned and headed for the door. He snapped his fingers and a wave of magic washed through the guild hall, instantly performing all the repairs he had promised and more. He waved over his shoulder as he headed out the door, "Erza'll be back tomorrow, her family's very excited to meet you all. _Gildarts._ "

He paused and set a lethal glare on Fairy Tail's strongest. It was a testament to the ferociousness of the glare that Gildarts actually flinched (ever how microscopically). "Speaking of _family,"_ Oby said in a quiet voice, "Your late wife's name was Alberona was it not? _Who in this room has that same name?_ "

He walked onto the door and sighed at the puzzled silence as Fairy Tail tried to piece together the relationship. Oby's frustration boiled over and he snapped over his shoulder, " _Gildarts Clive your daughter is standing right next to you. Cana will you please kick your old man in the shin for being this slow?!"_

Then he disappeared out into the suddenly drizzling rain. A few stunned moments later as his words settled in, Oby's tentacles shot back through the door and snatched half a dozen fliers from the job board before zipping back out. _Takin' these!_ His voice called in everybody's minds. With that, he was gone.

…

 ** _AN:_** _Yep, moving rather fast aren't we? Hold onto your hats folks, there's about to be another time skip! That's right, we're about to jump on to the beginning of canon! Don't worry, it's only two years, and after this I'm going to start taking things at a little bit less of such a lightning pace._

 ** _Update:_** _Actually...this one really isn't seeing a lot of interest from you readers, and if I'm honest with myself there's...really no point to it. The next several arcs are mostly rehash, the ending would've been amazingly badass, buuut there's really no point to even having Oby or even an Oby-like character in Fairy Tail other than to wrap up all the problems in a nice neat little bow and label them solved WAY too easily. So unless y'all just really REALLY want to see the rest of it...I think I'm just gonna let this one lie._


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